'HACKSAW RIDGE' which I saw in the week, and with which I'm pleased to announce that Mel Gibson is back - finally - and in the Director's chair for the first time since his acclaimed 'Apocalypto' in 2006 which he also Co-Wrote and Co-Produced. Since then he has starred in six films only, and most recently 'Blood Father' released only a few months ago to critical praise but lacklustre Box Office. Hollywood turned their back on Gibson for reasons that are well known and well documented, and so too did the movie going public, but in 'Hacksaw Ridge' it seems the Actor, Director, Producer and Screenwriter has served his time and there has been widespread applause for this, his latest Directorial offering which Premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September to a ten minute standing ovation. After languishing in film development hell for a very long time, and having turned down the film twice before, Gibson finally agreed to helm the movie in 2014. Made for US$40M and filmed entirely in Sydney and rural New South Wales, Australia, this film features a string of fine Australian acting talent, and is already touted for Academy Award recognition come next February.
The film begins at a rural home in the Virginian hills, in the small town of Lynchburg where two young brothers are fighting - Desmond and Harold Doss, both not even ten years of age. They live with their mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths) a religious homemaker and housewife, and father Tom (Hugo Weaving) a WWI veteran who is deeply scarred by the after effects of war and the loss of three of his closest friends whom he still mourns over in the local cemetery. He's a hard drinking man, and for him its seems there ain't much good in the world anymore. As the boys fight Desmond picks up a brick and knocks Harold over the head with it, knocking him unconscious. Horrified, Bertha and Tom take the limp bodied Harold into the house fearful he may die. He doesn't, but Desmond retreats to a picture located in another room of the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and his eyes are drawn to the sixth Commandment - Thou Shalt Not Kill. Fifteen years later and Desmond is all grown up, a young adult (Andrew Garfield) and we see him attend to an accident outside his local church involving a man pinned under a car with a badly lacerated leg injury. This results in him accompanying the patient to the local hospital and coming face to face with nurse Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer). For Desmond it is case of love at first sight and he is smitten. He agrees to give blood just to strike up a conversation. In no time at all, his feelings for Dorothy are reciprocated and the pair are prancing around like star crossed lovers and a wedding date is set!
One evening over the family dinner in the Doss household, Harold (Nathaniel Buzolic) announces he has enlisted, much to the chagrin of his father. This prompts Desmond to do likewise. But because of his firm religious beliefs as a conscientious objector, he intends to serve as a medic having gained an interest in all things medical from his nurse fiance, Dorothy. He is posted to Fort Jackson in Carolina where he meets his fellow grunts, among them Smitty (Luke Bracey) and is put under the command of Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn). He performs in all physical exercises very well and passes all necessary tests, except he will not carry a weapon and nor train on Saturday's, being the Sabbath for the Seventh Day Adventist that he is. This incurs the ire of Sergeant Howell and his superior Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) who try everything in their power to get Doss to quit the Army and return home. They see his religious beliefs as a mark of cowardice and seek to have him discharged on psychiatric grounds. This fails and so they turn his fellow soldiers on him in an attempt to have their bullying and beatings make him leave of his own volition. This also fails, and just makes Doss more determined to serve his country as he wants to, but not to bear arms.
The time comes when Desmond's squad is to be issued with weekend leave passes, during which time the wedding is set for he and Dorothy. However, he is arrested for refusing to carry out the orders of his Sergeant and his Captain by not carrying a weapon, despite his exemplary record in all other areas. Doss is thrown in a military prison pending a Court Marshall hearing at which he is likely to be found guilty and as such spend the entire war in a prison cell. Dorothy gets wind of this and visits him pleading with Desmond to plead guilty so that he can be released without charge. Not prepared to compromise his beliefs for his sake and Dorothy's he pleads not guilty.
His father Tom meanwhile, dressed in full WWI military uniform, barges in on the proceedings with a letter from his former WWI commanding officer with whom he fought in France, and who is now high up in the echelons of the Military. The letter states that it is written in the US Constitution that Desmond is protected if he chooses not to carry a weapon. As such the case is dismissed, he is granted permission to go into battle as a medic, and promptly marries Dorothy.
It's not long afterwards that Howell, Glover, Doss and the squad from Fort Jackson are combat ready and sent forthwith to the war in the Pacific to take part in the Battle of Okinawa, an island 550kms off the Japanese coast, and strategically well placed for the final assault on Japan, if the Americans can take possession. The gathered American forces have come under intense attack that has seen countless casualties on both sides. Needing to scale the sheer cliff face of the Maeda Escarpment (aka as 'Hacksaw Ridge'), Doss meets up with two other battle weary medics who give him some advice to stay alive. After making their first ascent they are met with a constant barrage of heavy artillery attack with intense close quarter gun fire, mortar explosions, flame throwers, grenades and bayonets incurring heavy casualties on both sides. Doss manages to rescue a number of injured men, even those that looked like lost causes, whilst dodging enemy attack at its most ferocious.
That night when the days fighting has subdued, what's left of the squad dig into fox holes for the night, Doss and Smitty share a quite moment in which Doss recounts the reason why he refuses to handle a gun. He almost shot his father, after he held a gun to his mother, and since that day he has been steadfast in his belief to never again hold a firearm. After a restless night, interrupted by the nighttime sounds of rats chewing on the corpses of the dead, and the moans of those wounded on the battlefield, the Japanese mount another relentless attack. Smitty is killed and the American's go into retreat waiting for another artillery attack from its warships located just off the coast. The overhead bombardment has the desired effect on the Japanese forces but not before more extensive bloodshed, torn limbs, lascerated bodies and scorched remains is seen on both sides.
With the squad now retreated back down the Ridge, Doss remains at the top refusing to leave. He spends the next day and that night retrieving wounded soldiers from the battlefield, whilst dodging occasional enemy gunfire and scout troops picking off lone survivors. He is alone out there, but is determined in his mission to save as many as he can, by rappelling them down the edge of the cliff to safety - mostly Americans but the occasional Japanese soldier too. This he continues despite his bloodied and ripped raw hands, his physical exhaustion and the ever present dangers of his own death. Time after time he prays to his Lord - 'help me find one more', 'help me find one more', 'help me find one more'!
He comes across a wounded Howell who is unable to walk having sustained injuries to both legs. Under gunfire from advancing Japanese troops, Doss drags Howell backwards on a make shift stretcher so that Howell can take out those Japanese aggressors. He does so barely with enough time to bind himself and Howell and throw himself and his injured Sergeant off the cliff edge, to be retrieved by Glover and others below. Doss is hailed a hero when they return to the safety of their own base, and the full magnitude of Doss' efforts is realised.
The next day is a Saturday and the Sabbath for Doss. Acknowledging his beliefs now Glover asks Doss for his forgiveness, and says that his fellow soldiers, having witnessed Doss's efforts, believe in some form of Devine intervention that will protect them when they advance again on Hacksaw Ridge. But it means Doss going into battle on his Sabbath day, and without him, the men won't go. He agrees and with extra reinforcements, the Americans turn the battle around in their favour. Doss sustains a leg injury from a grenade thrown by Japanese officers pretending to surrender, and is gradually lowered down the cliff face on a stretcher clutching the Holy Bible given to him by Dorothy when he first joined up.
As a conscientious objector Doss single handedly saved the lives of more than 75 men under a barrage of constant enemy fire whilst upholding his firm religious beliefs. He was discharged from the US Army in 1946 and spent the next five years recovering from his own injuries (he was shot three times) and illness. Dorothy died in 1991, and Desmond died in 2006 aged 87, having been awarded the Medal of Honour in November 1945 by President Harry S. Truman, as well as The Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and numerous other commendations and awards.
This is a stirring film on many levels. Its sets the scene for the best part of the first half as the emotions and the tension come to the boil before the main event that Gibson has staged with gritty relentless realism not seen in a wartime movie since 'Saving Private Ryan'. And it is in the battle scenes that Gibson once again shows us his abilities to stage gut wrenching, bloody, brutal and violent action grounded in a reality that is seldom seen elsewhere - just as he did in 'Braveheart' and 'Apocalypto'. This is one of the must see films of the year - for a strong and memorable performance from Andrew Garfield, for a little known true story of one mans courage of his convictions amidst great adversity, and for Mel Gibson's return to form as a Director of repute. Be warned however, that the battle scenes are long, confronting, graphic and intense - a depiction of the horrors, immediacy, chaos and carnage of warfare that Gibson doesn't shy away from, and nor should he!
-Steve, at Odeon Online-