Hacksaw Ridge is a
film based on the true story of Desmond Doss, who carried 75 men to safety
during the taking of Hacksaw Ridge on Okinawa during World War II. What made
this all the more extraordinary, especially for the military men he had to work
with, was that he was a conscientious objector. Hacksaw Ridge won two Academy Awards: Best Achievement in Film
Editing, and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing. The film is rated R for intense
prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly
bloody images.
Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) grew up in Virginia, and had
a difficult childhood. Several experiences depicted shaped him into the man he
became, and when World War II erupted, he enlisted into the Army. His father
Tom (Hugo Weaving) was an alcoholic, prone to violence, and his long-suffering
mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths) took the brunt of his abuse, as did his two
sons.
Desmond enlists and tells his recruiting agent that he will
not carry a gun, and that he wants to be a medic. He gets a rude awakening in
boot camp. Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn), along with other superiors, tries to
break him, as do his boot campmates. But Desmond remains strong. He is a
Seventh Day Adventist, and will not pick up that gun.
He is shipped to the Pacific in May 1945 to Okinawa where
the Japanese forces have hunkered down on the island in bunkers, and where the
US Army has been unable to gain a foothold and overcome them.
The film does not spare us of the violence of war, nor
should it. There is no glamorizing what war is here at any time. It is a
brutal, cruel, awful thing to watch men being ripped apart, burned to death,
and dying in agony. War is bad. I’m not saying World War II shouldn’t have
happened, given the events of the Holocaust and the Japanese attacking the
United States. But I will say that the wars that are happening right now on
this planet are not for noble reasons, but for protecting natural resources,
and sadly, not for the common people of the world, but so that major
corporations can grow wealthier and plunder the planet in the way they are
accustomed to. Please do not enlist. To borrow an old song’s refrain from the
sixties, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?”
At any rate, Desmond Doss is to be remembered not just for
saving the lives of 75 men on that Pacific oceanside cliff in 1945, but for
NEVER being swayed from his belief that to kill another human is the worst of
all sins. He was a conscientious objector, and that is what is to be honored
above all. He stuck to his values. If only we all did that instead of giving lip
service to that commandment of thou shalt not kill.
The film and especially Desmond’s story are worth watching,
if you can tolerate explicit war violence.
I found this an excellent film and War is Hell so violence is part of it. I admire this man who stuck by his beliefs, had to deal with prejudice and bullying only to earn the respect from these same men who had no idea what a truly brave person this man was. I thought this film was excellent
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and commenting! It was an excellent film. Glad to have you add the recommendation of it to others.
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