Hacksaw Ridge: Mel Gibson Discussion
When the word "hero" comes to mind most people think about someone (usually a man) rushing in to danger, risking both life and limb to perform some act (usually violent) in order to (hopefully) save lives. Very occasionally, you will hear a story about a different kind of heroism. Last week, the American Cinematheque had a screening of Hacksaw Ridge at the Aero Theatre and a discussion with Mel Gibson following. This thing was SOLD OUT and I mean to the point where they had a standby line going. The audience was much more even in regards to guys and gals which is unusual unless the movie is Casablanca or Gone With the Wind.
Hacksaw Ridge follows the tale of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor. The film opens with Doss (Andrew Garfield) on Okinawa before flashing back to his childhood in the hills of Virginia. During this we learn two things, the first being that Doss's father (Hugo Weaving), a veteran of WWI, has not dealt with his demons well (a bottle of something alcoholic is involved). The second is that Doss's mother is both highly religious and believes that murder is the worst sin in God's eyes. This is important for later. We then fast forward fifteen years to when Doss was a young man and WWII is on and in full swing. An accident occurs and Doss ends up going to the hospital in town. There he meets his (future) wife, Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer). Because Doss has virtually no experience with women, his idea of flirting is to stare at her to the point it almost becomes creepy. During their courtship, it becomes apparent that Doss is a little clumsy but, Dorothy doesn't seem to mind.
After a while, Doss comes to the decision to enlist but, as a medic so he doesn't have to kill people. Before he leaves for basic training, Dorothy gives him her Bible. At the barracks, we meet the rest of the crew. One of the most surprising moments was seeing Vince Vaughn as their sergeant. This is the second time that I've seen him in a more serious role. (He's really good.) Doss goes through training without difficulty until rifle practice. As Doss is against killing, he can't/refuses to pick up a gun. Upon hearing this, his commander tries to have him declared crazy so Doss can be discharged. That doesn't work. The next plan is making Doss's life absolute hell so he'll quit. That doesn't happen so everyone has more or less accepted Doss's strange ways. When the first leave comes around, Doss is going to marry Dorothy except for one small problem. The commander's commander comes around and orders Doss to shoot a gun, which Doss refuses. Doss is then arrested and scheduled for a court martial. Doss's father does something he probably hasn't done for years. He puts on his uniform and goes to an old war buddy (now a brigadier general) to ask for help. During Doss's court martial, his father forces his way in and delivers the letter to the court which states that Doss can't be forced to perform an act against his religious beliefs and is free to be a medic.
This is before the Combat Corpsman Program. It was the WWII version of the first responders that went into combat without weapons. It was a way for men to serve who either did not or would not (due to religious or political views) kill. There was also a huge stigma attached to men who wouldn't kill during wartime.
At Okinawa, Doss's company teams up with another group including two medics. They proceed to inform Doss that the Japanese specifically target medics so, he needs to get rid of anything that identifies him as a medic (anything with a red cross emblem essentially). They have orders to take Hacksaw Ridge so they go up it. Doss gets to work almost immediately. He ends up saving the life of a guy who called him a coward during basic training and they become friends. On the second day of fighting, the Japanese came out in force and drive the Americans off the ridge while sustaining heavy casualties. This is when legends are made. As all of the American forces retreat off the ridge, Doss hears the cries of help and, without telling anyone else, stays to do what he can. In the course of a single night, Doss saves 75 men single-handedly. Not until the last few men were rescued did Doss's commander find out about what had been going on. The last man Doss saved was his sergeant and they narrowly escaped the Japanese.
A day or so later, Doss's company is ordered to re-take Hacksaw Ridge. They refuse to do so unless Doss goes with them. (Doss is a Seventh Day Adventist and their Sabbath is on Saturday.) In this attack, he saves his commander but, is injured and taken off the ridge.
This film is fantastic and absolutely amazing. It is beautifully shot and deserves every Oscar nomination it has. The acting was absolutely breathtaking and is probably the best Vince Vaughn had ever done (in my opinion). One of the best parts, was listening to Mel Gibson talk about the film.
First off, Gibson passed on it the first two times and in fact, he had never even heard of Doss before this film. Now, Doss was a very humble man. As in, he didn't want a film made about him. Doss just wanted to grow vegetables and pray.They tried to make a film about him in the forties but, no dice. Doss gave the rights to his life story to his church and they promised to take care of him. An unexpected moment was when Gibson was talking about how they had to tone down the movie. The incident where Doss was injured was changed. What actually happened was as Doss was being carried out on a stretcher, he spotted a guy who, in his mind, was worse than Doss so, Doss jumped off the stretcher and put the other guy on. He then crawled back to the line and was shot before finally being taken off the ridge. It would've looked like a Monty Python sketch.
Gibson wanted to use the film for veterans' outreach programs and the film's website has like to veteran's organizations. Also, for those of you who are wondering, Mel Gibson has been having some story meetings with the guys from DC's movie team about
Suicide Squad 2.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Picture by John Conte
