Hacksaw Ridge
Andrew Garfield goes gunless
Based on the remarkable true life tale of American soldier Desmond T. Doss – a Seventh Day Adventist and conscientious objector who won the Medal Of Honor, the US’ highest military honour, despite never firing a single shot – Hacksaw Ridge features the most ferocious on-screen battle scenes since Saving Private Ryan’s beach landing. And the soppiest love story since The Notebook.
It’s this strange mix of saccharine romance and ultra-violent war movie that gives Hacksaw Ridge its peculiar power. Former Spidey Andrew Garfield plays Doss with a cheesy grin and Gump-like Southern charm. In the first half he woos his nurse sweetheart Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) before enlisting for battle after the outbreak of World War 2. In boot camp Doss is bullied for his beliefs, his fellow squaddies understandably terrified of going into battle with a man who’s so opposed to violence, he refuses to carry a gun. It’s in the hellfire of Okinawa that the film’s slow build pays off; you’ll be sincerely invested in, and affected by, the brutal on screen bloodshed.
And boy is it appalling, the camera unflinching as human bodies are ravaged by chunks of incendiary metal. Relentlessly intense, and with sound designed to terrorise, simply watching the battle proves a physically draining experience. Director Mel Gibson may lack restraint when it comes to the film’s Christian symbolism – Doss’ heroics are labelled a “miracle” shortly after he’s glimpsed in a crucifix pose. And the romantic first half won’t sit well with anyone expecting a ballistic war movie. But Hacksaw Ridge is a timely reminder that war really is hell. Jordan Farley