There are two films lurking in “Hacksaw Ridge.” One is the sentimental story of a conscientious objector during World War II. The other is a brutal look at the violence of war. As you might suspect, they don’t play well with each other.
The sweet, innocent half shows how a Virginian (Andrew Garfield) falls in love, decides to enlist in the U.S. Army and serve overseas, without the benefit of a rifle. The bloody, raw half reveals how it all worked out.
Directed by Mel Gibson, a man who has played both sides before, “Hacksaw Ridge” could have been that Clint Eastwood film that everyone over 60 has to see before the year’s end. “Gran Torino,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Million Dollar Baby” and “Flags of our Fathers” have filled this bill nicely. But Gibson’s production takes a tolerable look at war and blows it out of the water. It’s not just realistic, it’s downright shocking. Heads get blown off. Limbs fly up in the air. Intestines spill out. Makeup artists worked overtime but this isn’t always watchable. It's blood and guts at their worst.
People are also reading…
Thankfully, Garfield is so appealing as Desmond Doss, the Medal of Honor winning medic, we’re willing to track him on his quest to save men injured at the battle of Hacksaw Ridge.
Climbing a rope ladder to their enemy, the men are routinely pushed back, maimed and killed. Doss, determined to “get one more,” braves the fire, pulls the men to safety and helps 75. It’s a remarkable feat that serves to enforce the power of one’s convictions.
Determined to do his part, Doss doesn’t want to sit stateside while his friends fight for his freedom, so he enlists and suffers the taunts of his commanding officer (a brusque Vince Vaughn) and his fellow soldiers.
When he’s questioned about his refusal to carry a gun, he says, “I don’t know how I’m going to live with myself if I don’t stay true to what I believe.”
Garfield, a fine young actor, makes the words ring true.
Indeed, he’s the best thing about the muddled project. Although those early scenes seem too saccharine even for a Hallmark movie, they recall plenty of World War II dramas from the 1950s. It’s a fair approach but what follows somehow should have been telegraphed.
Gibson tries to make something of Doss’ alcoholic dad (played by Hugo Weaving) but the scenes go nowhere.
Far better are moments he has with Sam Worthington as a no-nonsense captain.
“Hacksaw Ridge” gets its tears (particularly when you see the real Doss in archival footage) but it didn’t have to go to such extremes to make them happen.
Garfield – an early Best Actor Oscar contender – can conjure them without so much as touching a gun.
