Hacksaw Ridge

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2016)

Mel Gibson's new directorial effort, Hacksaw Ridge, is not only one of the best war movies of recent years (some are saying the best since Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, which I would agree with), but it is also a rare film of courage, standing true to what one believes in and is ultimately an excellent and encouraging story of one man's Christian faith and the decision to go to war as a medic and yet refuse to carry a gun, or use or deploy any acts of violence whatsoever based on his beliefs. Our main character Desmond Doss, is brought up in a home where there is a fair bit of dysfunction largely based on the father's difficulty with what was then horrific memories and reflections of the first world war in which he served and which now causes him much pain and sorrow leading him to use alcohol as a means of trying to heal his wounds in what would today be considered as post traumatic stress disorder. While there is fighting and arguments among the Doss household, Desmond does cling to his Christian faith and even as an adult carries those beliefs with him even while enlisting to go to war. Desmond's idea is to be a war medic and save lives instead of killing others as he considered himself to be a conscientious objector and was totally opposed to violence and killing based on his strong Christian beliefs. Desmond while at boot camp and training to go to war is often made fun of verbally and also attacked physically for what the other soon to be soldiers did not understand and took to be an act of cowardice and oh how Desmond would prove them wrong. Desmond was certainly persecuted for his beliefs and his faith, but the absolutely amazing thing is that he never denounced his faith, or wanted to give up and he kept persevering even though it brought about condemnation and laughs and jeers from others. This is not giving any spoilers away, but Desmond does make it to the war and through praying and keeping true to the word of God as well as obeying the fellow soldiers and ultimately having the outlook of loving your neighbour as yourself he does far more than any of his fellow soldiers thinks he is capable of and truly proves himself to be a hero not only as a soldier and medic, but also as a true Christian soldier and one who placed God first and foremost in his life and would not disobey on the battlefield, or more importantly to the God who saw him through these personal and physical battles and would ultimately see him not only rewarded for his faith and devotion, but also Desmond truly becomes a wonderful example to his fellow soldiers and those in command of what a great Christian witness he is and one that the other soldiers because of his example that they would not soon forget. The film while very violent at times especially in it's second half should not stop viewers from seeing and embracing this inspiring and truly inspirational film and true story. This is not just simply a war film, but a man's own personal war against the people and powers that be that tried to suppress him and his faith only to be proved wrong and ultimately giving God the true and total glory that he deserves through Desmond's wonderful example and act of courage and faith. This film is about as good as you can get these days and everything here is done to sheer perfection from the outstanding acting to the war scenes to the makeup, sets and everything done to capture not only the period elements of the time, but also to not only take us to those battle lines, but make us feel as if we were right there and experiencing them for ourselves. There were some scenes that were so realistic that there were certainly times I jumped out of my seat in pure terror and other scenes were I was so deeply engrossed into the film and it's story as well. I hope that the R rating and the more graphic violence does not keep people away, but instead that people give this film a chance and be totally encouraged and yet blown away by the sheer power and yet beautiful nature of this amazing film. I hope that those who have written Mel Gibson off for comments he made ten years ago, can look past that and judge the man's art and not the man himself because he truly made a masterpiece with this film and it not only stands as one of this year's finest films, but also shows that good movies can still be made these days and I hope this film takes off and not only inspires, but truly shows what a Hollywood production can still do in the proper hands and that they can still achieve greatness. One of this year's best films.