Different !

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2016)

I liked Hacksaw Ridge simply because it is different. Most of war movies cover certain aspects of war, like the courage of men fighting for their countries, the horrors of war or the psychological effect of war and difficult adjustment to civilian life. All are great aspects that have been displayed in movies like Saving Private Ryan (Dir. Steven Spielberg), Full Metal Jacket (Dir. Stanley Kubrick), Apocalypse Now (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola), Platoon (Dir. Oliver Stone) and Paths of Glory (Dir. Stanley Kubrick).
Hacksaw Ridge covers all these aspects, it shows courageous men fighting for their cause on both sides (Americans and Japanese), it shows the horrors of war and how men can be cruel and savages killing each other and blowing each other into pieces, it shows the psychological effect of war and how hard it is to get back to normal after living the horrors of war and after watching your friends die (displayed by Desmond's father who came back from WWI a different man, drunk and violent).
But to make the value of human life the main theme in a war movie? That's new! War, by definition, is a man trying to kill as many soldiers of the enemy as he can. Desmond here doesn't kill and doesn't even hold a weapon, he appreciates human life, he knows that all life is precious, he doesn't kill as many as he can, he saves as many as he can from his friends and even form the enemy! He was as courageous as any man in that war, maybe even the most courageous of them all, because it takes a whole lot of courage to rush into war without a weapon to defend yourself! Some people would even consider that suicide.
Hugo Weaving gave a brilliant performance portraying Desmond's father with all the scars war left in his soul. Mel Gibson is a master director who knows exactly what he is doing. He has Braveheart (1995), Apocalypto (2006) and now Hacksaw Ridge (2016) to prove it.
Hacksaw Ridge is an important thought-provoking movie, with some mind-blowing action sequences and heart-breaking emotional moments. Definitely one of the best movies in 2016 and one of the best war movies ever.