HACKSAW RIDGE – Review

Andrew Garfield stars as Desmond Doss in HACKSAW RIDGE. Photo Credit: Mark Rogers. © Cross Creek Pictures / Lionsgate

HACKSAW RIDGE tells the true story of Private Desmond Doss, a medic who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving 75 men on Okinawa during World War II. What sets this heroic story apart is that Doss was a pacifist who refused to even carry a gun, much less fire one, yet won the right to serve and then the respect of his fellow soldiers for his bravery and compassion.

Mel Gibson directs HACKSAW RIDGE yet the film has the sepia-toned look and historic epic sensibility of a Clint Eastwood film. Patriotism, courage and faith are big themes in this war epic. However, by the time we reach the Okinawa battlefield, we definitely know we are watching a Mel Gibson film. Gibson’s taste for plenty of guts with the glory is legendary. Gore abounds and the battlefield scenes are gruesomely realistic, filled with exploding bodies and decaying carnage strewn across a battlefield where days of fighting have left their mark. It may be a realistic depiction of war but it takes a strong stomach to watch on a big screen.

This is not the first movie to spotlighted a war hero who was also a pacifist. Gary Cooper starred as a World War I hero with religiously based pacifist beliefs in SERGEANT YORK. Doss is played by Andrew Garfield, perhaps best known for his role as Spider Man. Like York, Doss had to find a way to reconcile his beliefs that killing, in any circumstance, was wrong with the idea of serving in the military in wartime.

The film opens on a battlefield but quickly flashes back to Doss’s earlier life. Young Desmond (Darcy Bryce) and his brother Hal (Roman Guerriero) grow up in a rural landscape but in a home filled with violence. Beatings by their hard-drinking father (Hugo Weaving), who has been traumatized by his experiences in WWI, are as common as the very rough play the boys engage in with little parental supervision. His father’s war experience and the household violence contrast with his parents’ fundamentalist Christian religion and particularly his mother’s (Rachel Griffiths) pacifism, a combination that shapes Desmond’s beliefs as an adult.

A chance visit to a hospital instills in Doss an interest in medicine as well as an interest in a pretty nurse, Dorothy (Teresa Palmer). When the U.S. joins the fight in WWII, Desmond sees a way to serve his country while not violating his beliefs – by being a medic.

These early scenes have an old Hollywood nostalgia to them. Basic training puts Doss with the usual assortment of types, a pretty boy, a working-class New Yorker, an Italian, an bookish type, and so forth, with Doss playing the sweet country boy. Vince Vaughn plays the tough sergeant in charge. Doss has to fight to stay in the army, which would rather just excuse him from service as a conscientious objector, revealing some of the character’s strength of will. The training scenes offer Gibson the chance to explore Doss’s ethical beliefs and demonstrate his commitment to his ideals. But one senses the director is eager to get back to the battlefield. The film’s old-fashioned movie tone vanishes abruptly once we arrive at Okinawa, and are immersed in the first gut-wrenching, brutal battle scene.

Garfield does an excellent job as Doss, playing him with a quiet inner strength and kind heart that is irresistible. Hugo Weaving is outstanding as Doss’ broken, war-traumatized father, and he adds depth and complexity to the character that another actor might have missed. Another standout is Vince Vaughn, in a nice non-comedic turn as drill sergeant Howell. Sam Worthington is also memorable as Captain Glover, determined at first to get rid of the pacifist Doss but eventually coming to respect him.

Some viewers will find the grim battle scenes difficult to watch, no matter how much it may mimic the reality of war. However, this is a skillfully made film, one of Gibson’s best. Gibson’s films often feature graphic violence but religion is another of his running themes. Doss’ pacifist beliefs are drawn from his religious faith, which the film highlights, but Gibson is gentler with the non-religious and non-Christians in the audience on that count than with the violence. Still, the film will appeal to church audiences, if they can get past the gruesome battlefield scenes.

While Gibson demonstrates deft directorial skill in HACKSAW RIDGE and offers a brief examination of Doss’ pacifism, we always feel like this film is more about the thrills of bloody battle than anything. The real person at the center of this film deserves admiration for his courage and a principled commitment to his beliefs, and his is an inspirational story, but there just seems to be something off about celebrating a pacifist’s bravery through a film that seems to revel in war.

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars