Review: Hacksaw Ridge
Hacksaw Ridge tells the story of Desmond Doss, a deeply religious man, who despite his conviction to not touch a weapon joins the army during WWII to serve his country. He joins the US Army as a medic and is send to Okinawa, where he and his company are ordered to attack Hacksaw Ridge, a heavily fortified plateau.
The first act starts a bit slow, showing Desmonds youth, his religious upbringing and his relation to his father. It is a slow burn, the only interesting thing to learn is Hugo Weaving as Tom Doss, who served in WWI and is deeply traumatized by this experience. Hugo Weaving gives a great performance, easily the second best of the movie, portraying this broken man. Suffering from PTSD he drinks, beats his wife and slowly destroys his family. Growing up in this situation, being told how bad violence is and seeing the toll war has, even on those who survive, makes the Desmonds decision to join the army even more grave. Even more so since he grew up in a small town in Virginia, pretty much a perfect place. The only thing of ugliness, of pain in this peaceful place is his father’s pain, caused by the War.
The second act now shows the army training, Desmond while being top of the class, his decision to not touch a weapon causes a lot of trouble with his superiors and his comrades. This is where Andrew Garfield begins to shine. While I had a bit of trouble getting used to his accent and wasn’t amazed by his flirting with the nurse he met in the hospital, Garfield does a great job of playing this strong-willed man, who has his will tested repeatedly but not giving in, even so he is close 1-2 times. In this act, the movie also tries to introduce the different people of the company. We are supposed to care, since we a going to see them die very soon. But for me that mostly falls flat, Hollywood is the only name that stuck with me, that’s mainly because he’s naked when we meet him. Vince Vaughn as Sgt. Howell is fine, but Sam Worthington is mostly white noise. The act ends with a trial, the army wanting to put Doss in prison, but as we see in the trailer ends with him being allowed to go to war without a weapon.
The last hours or so now shows the US attacking the Hacksaw Ridge. The opening attack is a deafening cascade of violence, that can only be compared to the opening of “Saving Private Ryan”. The horrors of war are shown in excruciating detail, and while we see Doss as the unarmed observer, a pacifist amidst horrendous violence, the movie doesn’t judge, it doesn’t condemn those who take up the guns. Although it only focuses on the US Soldiers, the Japanese stay faceless monsters. They are even described and shown as merciless when they kill wounded soldiers. If you expected a more nuanced depiction of both sides of the war, like Eastwoods “Letter from Iwo Jima” and “Flags of our fathers”, you are going to be disappointed.
This is also my biggest complaint about the movie. While showing horrors of war, the power faith can have to survive these circumstances and in a way condemning war itself as horrible, the movie never really questions the role of the participating parties. The USA are the good guys, who don’t want to die, because they have kids waiting at home, and the Japanese are the bad guys, who kill wounded, and blow themselves up, just so they can kill more of the good guys. And I didn’t even need a huge exposition showing the battle from both sides or anything, but a small thing that shows humanity in the enemy, like at night while sneaking through the dark, Doss sees a Japanese medic caring for one of their own wounded soldiers, who is in pain. The 2 medics make eye contact and after a few seconds the Japanese goes back to caring for his patient. And no, the scene in the tunnel doesn’t count, it doesn’t change the depiction of the Japanese.
Still the 3rd act is the strongest. Andrew Garfield is fantastic, the hardship Doss goes through, is incredible, and the way Mel Gibson directed it, is great. The act switches between fast action-packed and slow but tense sequences, both filled with their own kind of war-horror.
This is a movie that is clearly made for Oscar season and will probably win a couple of them. Andrew Garfield has a great chance to win for best actor with this movie. The movie is hard to stomach, but it worth a watch. Also, it is great to see Mel Gibson back as a director, after his many years of self-caused Hollywood exile.
My rating: 8,5/10
