Hacksaw Ridge

Composite Score: 85.4

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Nathaniel Buzolic, Richard Roxburgh, Goran D. Kleut, and Vince Vaughn

Director: Mel Gibson

Writers: Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight

Genres: Biography, Drama, History, War

MPAA Rating: R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images

Box Office: $180.56 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Hacksaw Ridge is Mel Gibson’s film based on the true story and life of Medal of Honor recipient Desmond Doss, the only conscientious objector to ever receive the award. The film stars Andrew Garfield as the pacifist protagonist, supported by Sam Worthington and Vince Vaughn as his initially antagonistic officers, Teresa Palmer as his girlfriend and then wife Dorothy, and Hugo Weaving as his alcoholic and PTSD-suffering father. While showcasing the almost unbelievable exploits and experiences of Doss, the film explores the concepts of violence, pacifism, just war, patriotism, and heroism through the lens of history, particularly World War II in the Pacific sphere. For its efforts, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Garfield) and wins for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing. It also currently sits in the 181st spot on IMDB’s list of Highest Rated Films.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                While most of Hacksaw Ridge takes a fairly nuanced approach to engaging with the morality of war (particularly World War II) and the violence involved in it, the film’s climax feels a bit like a propaganda piece for Christian nationalism in America. The final push to take the titular ridge, after Doss has already earned his Medal of Honor by singlehandedly saving between 50 and 100 wounded soldiers, is prefaced by the military waiting for Desmond to finish praying. Only after he has prayed and held his Bible once again can the offensive resume. This small aside, while perhaps true to his character and maybe history too, allows Gibson to paint his final conflagration of action, violence, and gore as something implicitly blessed and ordained by God. It’s not only a problematic view of warfare but also of violence, nationalism, and patriotism that smacks of punditry and borderline crusading. I love most of the rest of this film, but that particular detail gave me a pretty intense ick for the final twenty or so minutes of the film’s runtime.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Whatever you might think of Mel Gibson as a person (I don’t think he’s that cool of a dude, btw), you can’t deny his ability to direct violence. He has made an artform out of death, destruction, and mutilation that comes to its full culmination in this particular film. Those familiar with his work on Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ, and Apocalypto should find this as no huge surprise, but I do think that the scenes of combat in Hacksaw Ridge might be his best ever because of how well they tie back to the film’s themes of violence and pacifism. Every death and mutilation in the film adds to a sense of senselessness in the violence. Grenades blowing shrapnel into limbs, flamethrowers engulfing groups of men in flames, bodies flying apart as they are torn and thrown by explosives – though we know who some of these faces are, they flash by so quickly that it all feels almost trivial. The violence comes through on this unavoidable scale, giving the audience a sense of the overwhelming nature of war, and serving as a strong advocate for peace in the process. You’re never left with a sense of justification or vindication for any of the acts of violence, only for the acts of healing and rescue enacted by our protagonist, and that’s why I think the film ultimately works despite what I assume are the director’s attempts to push it in a more patriotic, “America first” direction.

                The biggest piece that makes the film’s argument for peace and pacifism so strong is the central performance of Andrew Garfield, for which he received an Oscar nomination in a fairly stacked category that year. Though Garfield’s accent might get a bit grating at times, the sense of conviction and emotion that he’s able to portray in every key scene carries the film. Even people who might not fully agree with everything that Desmond Doss stood for will find themselves hard-pressed to disagree with Garfield’s sense of purpose in his portrayal. Every look, every expression, every statement feels thought-out and intentional, and it’s certainly one of the actor’s best performances so far.

                Led by Andrew Garfield, populated by Gibson’s directorial vision, and ultimately driven by Doss’s own convictions in favor of peace and pacifism, Hacksaw Ridge undeniably earns its place among biopics, World War II films, and, ultimately, the Greatest Films of All Time. Some of Gibson’s more political messaging doesn’t necessarily age well or even land well, but the actual message of the work of the film’s hero serves its purpose well in overcoming some not-so-subtle calls to warfare and nationalism. This film is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video for anyone looking to check it out.