Sophia T
Part 1-Brief summary
The film ‘Hacksaw Ridge’, released on 16th of October 2016, directed by Mel Gibson, recounts the true story of Desmond Doss’s refusal to fire a shot whilst serving as a combat medic during the battle of Okinawa, WW2, due to his strong religious beliefs as a seventh-day Adventist Christian. The film is set in 1945 the year of the battle of Okinawa. Andrew Garfield, who played the starring role of Desmond Doss, acts out the miraculous rescue of 75 soldiers by Doss’s reliance on his prayers to save another injured soldier for 12 hours, even including the Japanese soldiers who they were in battle with. The dramatic film emphasizes the heroism and faith of Desmond Doss who won honor from his commanders and fellow soldiers even after being scolded, and at a failed attempt of being removed from the war. Clearly illustrating Doss' desire to help others and the persistent strength of his faith.
Part 2- Opinion and rating
My rating for the film 'Hacksaw ridge’ would stand a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The film generally captures the true character of Desmond and his perspective and thrives in demonstrating the overall bravery and miraculous story of Desmond Doss's experience at war.
Part 3- Directors interpretation
In ‘Hacksaw ridge’ Director Mel Gibson displays the strength of Doss’s commitment to God through the recurring theme of contention between his parents. In a certain scene Doss begins to receive torment by the visible memory of an argument which occurred between his parents at home. Gibson shifts the scene from a zoom-in of Doss laying in a jail cell pacing his heavy breaths, to him laying in his bed at home. As the scene shifts the muffled sound Of Doss's parents arguing overlaying Doss in the jail cell becomes clearer as the scene shifts into his room at home. Quickly the lighting becomes darker, hinting at the darkness of the scene. Abruptly Doss swings open his bedroom door and pushes his dad against the wall which is filmed from an over the shoulder shot elevating the level of tension in the scene. Firmly, Doss holds back the arm his father is armed with and a shot is fired, causing his mother to react with a scream which travels into the transition of the next scene. After the argument exhibited Doss makes a promise to God to never touch a weapon again. In the way that Gibson directs this occurrence it is evident that the trauma created by it was triggered by his recent refusal to pick up a weapon, the primary reason he lays in jail. Through this event it shows Doss commitment to God and his willingness to keep his promise to God even in the face of scary situations.
After the flashback the scene ensues to the courtroom, where the officers charge Doss for disobeying a direct order. Mel Gibson depicts the stress Doss is feeling by adding non-diegetic sound of a quick heartbeat as he walks towards the doors of the courtroom. When Doss walks in the courtroom the shot transitions from his face to his shoes as the camera follows his steps. The scene moves into slight slo-motion to capture Doss facial expressions which by his worried looks express feelings of nervousness in Doss. The camera pans the cold stare of the commanders from an eye level angle and Doss salutes to the judge and shortly after pleads not-guilty. The room is struck in confusion when he pleads not-guilty as a last minute decision, they question why Doss wouldn’t rather be sent home and why he would instead choose to proceed to a court martial. The officers say Doss waves his morality at them like it's a badge of honor. Their desire to remove him from the war over refusing to use a gun shows the common belief that a man cannot be useful at war unless he kills his enemies. However they fail once Doss’s father hands in a letter which approves that he has the right to go to war without the use of a gun.
Essay:
The biographical film ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ is a historically accurate depiction of the true story and experiences of Desmond Doss. The film shows the true character of Doss and supports his persistent faith which moved him through the war and stays true to the events which he faced. Many inaccuracies seen in the film revolve around the setting and weapons of the battle but even so the true meaning and event of the story was a profoundly accurate portrayal.
Firstly, the film accurately depicts Desmond Doss’s character through alternate reflections of his experiences in real life. Doss’s tenacity to help others is captured in a scene where Doss responds in immediate action to save a boy who’s been hit by a car in a life or death situation. Similarly in real life Doss's sister recalls that on the radio it was a hospital that announced that they urgently needed blood to save a woman's life due to an accident, so Doss walked 3 miles to donate his blood to save her. Despite the events seen in the film being inaccurate to Doss’s real life experiences weakening the overall accuracy, the events both remain in correspondence to each other and illustrate the concept that Doss was an altruistic person. Empirically, his sister states that ‘anyone sick he’d be there’ which was also supported by his brother who reasons ‘he was always helpful to people’. Furthermore linking to Doss’s desire to serve and help in the war, accurately displaying the helpful and loving character Desmond Doss was and how this side of him was emphasized in the film alongside his experience at war.
In addition, ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ portrays an extremely accurate and thorough depiction of Desmond Doss’s duty as a medic during the battle of Okinawa through the insertion of real life events.The film highlights how Doss relies on God to help him fulfill his role to save the lives of other men, ‘just help me get one more’, not just for emphasis of his faith in the film but also the real words he said each time he attempted to save another man. In a television interview of Doss, Doss states he ‘pictures Christ as saving life and I wanted to be like Christ’ his desire to be like Christ is frequently portrayed in the battle scene of the field through his efforts to stay near the word of God, the film incorporates specific moments from reality that display his devotion to his faith. Moments such as when Doss remains on the ridge while his fellow soldiers retreat to do an all night rescue search, shows how the film upholds Doss’s commitment to his aim of trying to be like Christ. Another key event was when Doss loses his bible as he is carried down the ridge and asks his fellow soldiers to retrieve it, similarly in real life Doss was on a hospital ship and sent word to his men to retrieve it. Even though the event is portrayed in a different way the film sustains Doss’s bible as a strong element in the film which just as in real life was his comfort and guidance. Furthermore portraying Doss’s faith and the film's accuracy in incorporating real life events.
The film's setting and weapons of the battle of Okinawa is a somewhat accurate portrayal of the real life battle scene. Seen in the image source below Doss stands on top of the escarpment at Hacksaw Ridge, from first glance of the film's representation of the escarpment it is extremely large and intimidating with numerous men being able to climb the ropes at once. As seen in the image below a rough estimate of 10 men look like they could climb up that at once, highly exaggerating the appearance of the ridge, including an exaggeration of the steepness making it less jagged than seen in the image but at the least the film uses cargo nets as it did in reality. The film also lacked accuracy in regards to high powered machine guns and rifles. An inaccurate display of hand to hand combat in the film was also shown as during the battle US and Japanese troops attacked each other with knives even though having rifles, which generally did not align so much with historical accuracy. Overall the film rather exaggerates the combat in the film than focusing on historical accuracy.
Ultimately the film ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ depicts a mostly accurate representation of the experiences of Desmond Doss by a careful portrayal of his character and faith. However even with the film lacking in accuracy of the setting and weapons of the battle, it is most significant the movie got across an accurate depiction of Doss's story which Mel Gibson thrived in displaying.
Bibliography:
Title: Private first class Desmond Thomas Medal of honor, Name: Kali Martin, Date: October 12 2020
Title: Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Name: Kevin Lang, Date: no date
https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/hacksaw-ridge/
Title: Desmond Doss: The Real Story, Name: no name, Date:no date
https://desmonddoss.com/bio/bio-real.php