Review of Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson

I’m such a big Andrew Garfield stan, and when I was finding out about this movie, I think was going through another phase where I was rediscovering the kind of work he does. Granted, I probably would have never watched a movie like Hacksaw Ridge under normal circumstances.

I’ve also been under a World War II movie kick in the past couple of months as well, but it’s been more of the people of color and art side of things, not a religious kid who refuses to fight as he sees nonviolence as a part of his religion. I think it was the combination of these two phases that led me to watch this one day.

It had just been added to Netflix and appeared in the new section, which is why I even knew about it in the first place. I usually watch movies one of three ways: I close my eyes, press buttons, and hope to find something, it appears in my suggested and I end up watching it, or I am a woman on a mission and feel like I need to watch a very specific movie in a very specific moment. I’m a simple creature of habit though, and this simply caught my eye.

Let’s get into the review—I can feel myself starting to ramble already.

When Desmond Doss enlists in World War II, his faith clashes with the rules of war at first.

When Desmond is a young man, a certain incident happens that ends up becoming the reason why he chooses nonviolence within his life. While being rough with his brother, he almost kills him, which traumatizes Desmond, as he never forgets what happened with his little brother.

This, along with the fact their parents raised them as Seventh Day Adventists, pretty much convinces him to really believe in the commandment that one shouldn’t kill others. Fifteen years pass, and Desmond finds love with a local nurse and he begins to become interested in medical work.

But the attack on Pearl Harbor happens, and the United States enters World War II. Like so many other young men in his hometown, Desmond becomes inspired to enlist in the army as a combat medic. His father does not think this is a good idea, as he’s a veteran from World War II, but Desmond disagrees and does it anyways, getting engaged to Dorothy, the nurse, in the process.

However, when Desmond arrives for training, he is immediately exiled from everyone else because refuses to wield a rifle due to his beliefs, and skips trainings on Saturdays because of it too.

When the army officials try to force him to be discharged for mental illness, they try to break down his spirit and his fellow soldiers even beat him to try to break Desmond down. He rfuses.

When he refuses to wield a firearm after completing training, he is arrested. His higher ups try to convince him to plead guilty so he won’t be charged, but his father uses his army connections from the war to get him out, having a brigadier general say that this is against the US Constitution. Desmond is freed and the charges are dropped. He gets married to Dorothy and is then deployed to the Pacific Theatre.

Desmond goes straight onto the battlefield and discovers the horrors of war, dodging dead bodies, bullets, and the dying arms of the men who he once lived and trained with.

When he saves Smitty, one of the men who doubted him before, the two become friends, but the Japanese launch a big offensive the next day and Smitty is killed. Desmond returns to the battlefield and levies the bodies of the wounded and fallen over the edge of a cliff, hides himself from the enemy, and rescues more soldiers when day breaks.

He earns the respect from his superiors for this, as they presumed they all dead, and they launch a counterattack of their own. Desmond saves a group of fellow soldiers from a grenade, but is wounded in the process and carried off the battlefield with his Bible Dorothy had once given him.

The war ends not long after that, and he is given the Medal of Honor for rescuing seventy-five soldiers. The film then ends with footage of an interview taken with Desmond Doss before his death.

Overall Thoughts

While this is the pretty standard American war film I kind of expected, I enjoyed getting to know what Desmond Doss did. Although I myself am not religious, it’s admirable how he stuck to his beliefs of nonviolence because of it and ended up doing something really remarkable in the face of war and mass destruction.

There’s a lot to learn from stories like these whether you’re Christian or not, and I respect that. Besides this, it’s a pretty standard war film. I’ve watched a lot of World War II movies at this point, so I feel like I can say that. It’s standard.

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.