Hacksaw Ridge Movie Review

To display a vivid image of war, can be a difficult task. Usually it just depends on what the director believes should best highlighted in the movie: which aspect is the most important. Sometimes it is the setting, and other times it can be the dialogue; either way the purpose is to highlight the existing conflict. Hacksaw Ridge’s strongest asset is its reliance on realism. Of course, realism itself can’t take up the entire; cinema requires romanticist and dramatization. This separation could determine what kind of experience you are willing to receive.

Hacksaw Ridge is about the story of Desmond T. Doss (played by Andrew Garfield) and his seemingly constant battle between personal morals versus the world’s lack of it. The first half shows the childhood and adolescence of our hero. He struggles with an abusive father with drinking problems, which would later be a key influence to his decisions of what is right and wrong. Eventually the film moves over to a romantic tone, then a training setting, all the way over to the second half the film: the battle of Okinawa. While even getting the ability to serve becomes a conflict, Desmond becomes the courageous yet kind soldier of the battle, bearing no military firearms, with the goal only to assist the injured, not to kill.

There’s not too much to say about first half the film, other that everything is fine. The instances before Desmond’s voluntary decision to join the military is rather plain. The romance between Desmond and his girlfriend is cheesy. The setting is a Hollywood classic depiction of the 1940s. Desmond is a kind and sweet-hearted man, and the film makes its best effort to remind us of it. When entering combat training, we see to full extent how strong he is in his own beliefs. The soldiers might belittle or harass him for his religious views, as well as when he outrageously refuses the acquisition of a firearm. Comedy is placed here and there, but nothing too notable occurs. It’s hard to get too invested into the story when a lot of themes are just a tad too exaggerated.

The strongest aspect of the film definitely comes from the battle scenes. This is where realism sets off, in terms of injuries. If anything, you might have heard of the large amount of gore and it’s depiction of war. To some, this might be a clear red-flag, as it’s not easy to look at. But I was rather fascinated of the amount of detail put into the violence. It isn’t done comically, nothings exaggerated in order to seem more appealing. Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, had similar goals: to craft realistic battle, with grenade shrapnel, mud, and the legality really at hand. He showed that bullets kill and people can be injured, instead of either surviving a swarm of lead or dying instantly at anything. There is struggle, instead of heading straight to a simple conclusion of death. Soldier A, doesn’t just die, as the script said he would, but tries his best to survive. Soldier B, isn’t a body sponge, and when spontaneously hit in the head the moment he peaked for a better view of the enemy, he dies. This complexity brought in when depicting warfare can only be greeted with respect, for the amount of effort put into this goal is extraordinary. For the film, with this being the setting, the fact that our main hero is running around the battleground trying to assist in the best way possible as a combat medic, with no firearm, makes his risk all the more greater. Certainly this part of the movie is the most thought out, but the first half wasn’t terrible by any means.

The movie isn’t bad, not even mediocre. It’s just the majority of it isn’t too remarkable, mostly in the first half. But when we really see the physical struggle of Desmond at Okinawa, the film picks up and strives. Hacksaw Ridge is a good movie, but there might be better films out in theaters this instant.

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