Adventist opinion: Masterpiece that makes you tremble from both horror and wonder, as it inspires hope in a cynical world

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2016)

As a Seventh-day Adventist, I was extra-hyped about this movie from the very moment I heard Gibson working on it. Yet it exceeded all my expectations. We faith-people got used to our heroes being presented in minimized, exaggerated or convenient ways, while God they believed in is being put aside (sadly, Gifted Hands falls into this category with its ridiculous 'it's all in here/in your brain' catchphrase). This is not the case with Hacksaw Ridge. It takes the man Desmond Doss with all he was and lets him speak for himself. True, some of the family details were modified (e.g. Doss' real father was not that abusive and that incident with the gun happened with his brother instead of his wife; or, Doss didn't meet Dorothy in the hospital but in the church – perhaps their shared Adventist identity could've been exploited for an even more convincing narration), but the bulk of the movie is seeping with integrity towards Doss' story and character. Desmond Jr. himself told Mel Gibson he was amazed by how similar to his dad Garfield's impersonation was.
Artistically speaking, Hacksaw Ridge is hauntingly beautiful, starting with the opening scene, together with its catchy musical theme (that actually sounds very similar to a hymn of blessing we used to sing at the end of service in my church). Sound editing overall is, quite appropriately, ethereal and brutally real at the same time (one of the highlights for me was an artillery strike from the fleet). Narration proceeds brilliantly, with subtle messages an incautious viewer may not notice at first – but when noticed, they beautifully ingrain the movie's points. My three favorites among them: [**possible spoilers**] (1) Quickly seeing a wedding ring on Doss' finger before he goes to bed with Dorothy – emphasizing his integrity in every area of his faith. (2) At the beginning of the battle, a fellow medic tells Doss to just administer morphine to the soldier with blown legs and let him die; Doss considers this and decides not to listen – thus we see that he will work to save all lives, even those that everyone else had written off. (3) The most brilliant one: Doss shares his memories with Smitty about his dad beating him and his brother just because the sun had risen, implying it had no cause nor made any sense. Next scene, the sun rises over the battlefield; a few moments later, Japanese attack like crazy and a bloody battle ensues, implying war is just as senseless. A to-the-core anti-war moment. [**end of possible spoilers**].
Once the battle begins, the level of unexpected immersion into its horror is amazing. You have the feeling you are actually there with those guys. My heart was literally pounding and I was in trembling shock that this is actually happening, wanting to crawl a little deeper into my mental foxhole. I acquired a whole new appreciation and sympathy for the PTSD-stricken veterans. At the same time, it stripped the war of all redemptive-violence optimism and showed it like it really is – gruesome, inimical to the human dignity – something that leaves no real winners. I'm all with Gibson on the necessity of this realistically brutal depiction for the sake of making Doss' anomalous presence real and appreciable. As an Adventist, I don't believe in a place called Hell, but if there ever was one – it was on the battlefields like this. And into this hell comes one unshakable heavenly man whose one goal is to save "one more", no matter the cost to himself. Now, doesn't that sound familiar? There is hardly any more beautiful metaphor for what Christ did than this.
The transcending nature of Doss' character is nowhere shown better than [**spoiler**] in the scene where he treats the Japanese soldier without a bit of hesitation or contempt – that was such a cathartic moment after all that bloodshed between the brothers of the same human family [**end of spoiler**]. Such moments also make you tremble, but this time from wonder and gratitude that in the midst of that chaotic horror, a person could hold onto and share divine peace and love with everyone.
In the end, the film leaves you with a wonderful but dangerous feeling – a feeling that you have watched something so meaningful, real and unfeigned that it can provoke a change in your own life. The true and unfeigned nature of the movie and, frankly, of its crew and cast (Gibson, producers, screenwriters, Garfield, Palmer everyone just seem to really resonate with the story), also tends to make a lot of other movies feel suddenly shallow. In many ways, the film is a game changer. The crew was extra careful to tell the story like it was, sensitive to the input of Doss' family, friends and church. You can see an unprecedented level of accountability and humility. Yet this didn't prevent the film to end up a masterpiece. It is a Doss among the movies – being different in a good way and giving hope that it's possible to stand for what you believe. Perhaps the best conclusion I could give here are Garfield's own words: "It's a very hard thing to stay true to oneself and one's convictions in the culture we're in right now. Yet it's those people who shape the change that a culture needs, by standing strong in the midst of terrible storms." If this movie helps one person to stand strong for what is right in a terrible storm, it has accomplished wonders.
Matija Kovacevic