Hacksaw Ridge

Directed By: Mel GibsonWritten By: Andrew Knight Starring: Andrew Garfield, Hugo Weaving, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington

I heard Mel Gibson state in an interview that the

only difference between Desmond Doss (the real-life protagonist of Hacksaw Ridge), and a superhero, the likes of which we see so often in movies these days, is merely the amount of spandex his uniform requires. Corny as it may sound, Desmond Doss is very much a real-life superhero, perhaps the most gallant World War 2 battler seen on film, and he never even laid a finger on a gun. Doss’ real-life bravery and altruism, in the light of war’s foulest perils, was so absurd that Gibson had to deliberately omit certain examples of his heroism, as to include them would spill Doss’ goodness into caricature and stretch veracity for the viewer.

Desmond’ story is indeed incredible. He’s played by Andrew Garfield, whose boyishness is perfect for bringing the man’s benevolence to the surface. He was a conscientious objector (or conscientious co-operator as he prefers), who enlists himself in the war effort out of a sense of duty to his country, but whose strict religious beliefs (Desmond is a Seventh-day Adventist), coupled with a youth in which the poisons of violence were frequently demonstrated to him, dictates he cannot so much as touch a weapon. Instead he finds himself in the thick of the Battle of Okinawa totally unarmed, working as a medic, attempting to piece a world together on the battlefields that is hellbent on tearing itself apart (paraphrased from his words.)

The film becomes a study of beliefs and the courage required to remain true to those beliefs, but it’s also a gripping, yet appropriately hideous, snapshot of war. In both respects, the film is profound. Hacksaw Ridge is not a perfectly made film, but it is a movie which is perfect in its realisation of its key points. War is hell, and Desmond Doss was an incredible man, those notions could never be lost on the viewer, and that is what’s salient about Mel Gibson’s first movie in a decade.

The film’s first half is not as good as its second. There is some oddly placed saccharinity to sift through before the story truly hits its stride. The opening act bounces between Desmond’s tumultuous home life where his father (well played by Hugo Weaving) has been on a rough downward trajectory since the First World War, and Desmond’s whirling romance with a young nurse named Dorothy (Teresa Palmer).

It’s

standard pre-war fare for the most part, but Gibson’s diligence in the origins of Doss’ pacifism is appreciable, even if some of the character interplay does suffer from a touch of the after-school-specials.

There’s more standard, yet exciting, fare following Desmond’s enlistment. The squad he trains with is littered with archetypes. Vince Vaughn (who is particularly entertaining here), plays the clichéd R. Lee Ermey Sargent, essentially a savage insult comic in a uniform. Deep down he has heart of gold though. There’s the jock of the school yard, played by Luke Bracey, a figurehead of Desmond’s violent ostracism; Desmond’s fellow soldiers mistake his religious devotion for cowardice. There’s the buff guy who’s obviously compensating for something, at his core he’s the most vulnerable, and the rest of the squad is filled with jokesters and boys who are just being boys. The upshot of using so many archetypes is it allows for a series of characters to be drawn sharply yet efficiently. When we reach Okinawa, it isn’t just Desmond that we’re looking out for.

And then there are the scenes at Hacksaw Ridge itself, essentially the film’s second half, which spawns some of the most unflinching imagery ever committed to film. If Gibson’s direction isn’t always perfect, his direction of these scenes is. They signal filmmaking of the most visceral and haunting kind, the movie oscillating between slow motion, staccato-like visuals, teasing as much carnage from the fighting as possible, and a frenetic chaos which has just the same effect.

The obvious comparison is Saving Private Ryan and its scene at Omaha Beach, however Gibson leaves the savagery of Spielberg’s famed combat sequence in the dust. Hacksaw’s combat is a gruelling, painful spectacle, as barbaric as it is terrifying. There are moments in the film which wouldn’t be out of place in a horror movie, men stumbling on a smoke laden battlefield, never certain of what’s more than a metre in front of them.

Much can be made of Gibson’s apparent fetishizing of suffering in his work, Hacksaw will certainly incite these criticisms. The extended battle sequence is tirelessly thrilling and compulsively watchable, but crucially, it is never glorious. The extremity of the violence serves a storytelling purpose. It underscores the flimsiness with which warfare renders life, the sickness and cruelty of it. But the savagery also allows for an illustration of the courage required for Doss to remain true to himself. The violence may appear at odds with the film’s centre piece of pacifism, but the violence rather offsets the beauty of Desmond’s peacefulness. Little of Doss’ achievements has been kept secret in the promotion of the movie, but the scope of his medical heroics is better realised in seeing the film. What is worth saying here is that Hacksaw Ridge has provided us with one of the best cinematic heroes of recent memory, what the man did in the face of the worst violence knowable, is staggering.

For this, much credit should also be given to Andrew Garfield. There are moments and dialogue within the film that could be misconstrued as sympathy exploitation, certainly Doss’ refrain of pleading with his God for the chance to save one more life could be seen as transparent in the wrong hands. But so sincere is Garfield in his performance, so sincere is Gibson in his admiration for the character, that we instead marvel at the humanity of Desmond. We are swept up in him, utterly absorbed by his story, so much so that any amount of tonal inconsistency is insignificant next to how damn moved we are by the man’s journey.

Hacksaw Ridge mightn’t be perfect, but it’s something of a masterpiece all the same.

Rating: 4/4