Wears its heart on its sleeve

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2017)

Mel Gibson wound the clock back in making "Hacksaw Ridge"; it reminded me of "Sergeant York" with Gary Cooper. Back then, films could wear their hearts on their sleeves and "York" was loaded with emotion and sentimentality.
The treatment in "Hacksaw Ridge" is in a similar vein to that 70-year old film. Although it might be considered too syrupy in our more cynical age, I think Gibson may have caught the spirit of Desmond Doss. To perform the deeds that he did, Doss must have been working on raw emotion – appealing to God to help him save one more.
Although many of the technical aspects of the film can be questioned, the emotional and sentimental heart of the movie seems about right.
The film was made in Australia with a combination of American and Aussie actors. I think it's fair enough that Australia pays a little homage to Americans who fought in the Pacific in WW2. Australia owes a big part of its survival in 1942-43 to the U.S. Much of the brilliant mini-series, "The Pacific", was also made here.
Gibson admitted that he changed some things to drive the drama and also because they seemed unbelievable. However proving truth is often stranger than fiction, the surreal looking scenes of Doss and his comrades climbing the net hanging from the cliff really happened – although the filmmakers apparently added about a third to its height.
As for the film being anti-Japanese? The hatred between the Allies (Americans, Australians and British) and the Japanese during WW2 was rivalled only by that between the Germans and the Russians. Pearl Harbour was still fresh in American minds and the death marches and massacres of prisoners by Japanese soldiers were known by then. The film is honest about the feelings at the time.
The film smacks of a labour of love. Desmond Doss was a real man and he did even more than was depicted in the film. Although the film takes plenty of artistic licence, the essential truth comes through. I think you just have to take "Hacksaw Ridge" as it comes – with all its emotion and sentimentality.