It’s hard to write about Hacksaw Ridge.
On one hand it’s a squeaky clean love story, both between a man and a woman and between a man and God. On the other hand, it’s a horrific war movie, the gore in which I had never seen before. Thinking about it makes me emotional, and I’m still reeling days later. Maybe I’m sensitively hearted, but the movie twisted me–from the innocent beginnings of Desmond Doss’ journey to the horrors and depths of battle you can’t help but feel–stripped. And all the more in awe of the true story behind the film.
Based on the incredible story of Desmond Doss in World War II, the man was a conscientious objector–he never held a gun through the whole war–and somehow was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat. The man was a combat medic who in the throes of the battle for Hacksaw Ridge carried 75 injured men to safety–and ultimately saved their lives.
We start Desmond’s story in serene Virginia, when he was just a young boy who played too tough in a home with an alcoholic and abusive father (Hugo Weaving), a veteran of World War I. After a traumatic upbringing with his family, he grew up into a God-loving young man (played earnestly by Andrew Garfield and his doe eyes) who knew he had to join the war but refused to hold a weapon that had the ability to take so many lives away. But honestly, it’s all fun and games until we finally arrive at Hacksaw Ridge. The moment the soldiers make the climb over the ridge we’re thrust into the throes of battle–and all that comes with it. The horror, the paralyzing fear, instant death at any moment–and oh god, the guts, the blood. Mel Gibson, who directed the movie, may have shot himself in the foot with prior comments but these battle sequences are exquisite. The clarity of what’s happening, where the players are–but also the utter fear of WHAT THE HELL is going on, that lives are being wasted around you, the truly remarkable and inspiring bravery of just what Desmond Doss was up against all strikes you.
This movie–two sides of a coin. Soaring young love and the pain, the unknowable pain of what people have gone through. I swear, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
We screened the film at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture.
