Hacksaw Ridge

Rating: 7/10 (5 January 2017)

The true story of Desmond Doss undoubtedly deserves a tribute, but Hacksaw Ridge manipulates the facts in order to fit into a classic war cinema structure: the rookie with good intentions who suffers the disdain from his partners and superiors, in order to later earn respect in the battlefield. Sure, the key difference of Hacksaw Ridge is that Doss' religious beliefs didn't allow him to kill, or even touch a weapon, something which made his military career even more difficult; but everything else is developed exactly in the way we have seen in too many war films. The avalanche of clichés makes the first half of Hacksaw Ridge occasionally a bit tiring, and it contributes to Doss' excessive simplification. I guess it was necessary to show the experiences which made him become an obstinately pacific man, but the screenplay feels so artificial that Doss ends up looking like a less endearing Forrest Gump. That's how we have a fight with his brother which almost concluded on a tragedy, an alcoholic and violent father (brilliantly played by Hugo Weaving) and a search of internal peace through the Adventist religion. Needless to say, those are valid motivations, but co-screenwriters Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight present them on a cold and artificial way, like a list of ingredients, instead of incorporating them to the natural development of an individual with strong moral convictions. Fortunately, all that changes during the second half of the film, in which director Mel Gibson overwhelms us with a brutal and bloody vision of war which doesn't only capture the struggles of combat, but also the chaos and hopelessness which torment soldiers. I won't say more than that in order to preserve the best moments of Hacksaw Ridge; but I can assure that the weak first half is compensated to some point by the visceral and emotional impact of the battle scenes. Andrew Garfield brings a good performance as Doss, credibly transmitting his character's transformation from a pusillanimous innocent man to a hero, while Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington and Richard Roxburgh also make a credible work as officers who find Doss infuriating, incomprehensible and even offensive. In conclusion, Hacksaw Ridge is definitely very far from being on par with classic war movies such as Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line, but it still deserves a moderate recommendation, mainly for portraying such a peculiar fragment of World War II, proving that courage doesn't necessarily require aggression.