“When the order came to retreat, one man stayed”. “Based on the incredible true story”. “One of the greatest heroes in American history never fired a bullet”. All genuine poster taglines for Mel Gibson’s grand comeback in the director’s chair: Hacksaw Ridge. The story of an intensely religious US army medic in World War II who refused to kill, or even carry a gun, yet single-handedly saved the lives of over seventy comrades in Okinawa. So far, so Oscar-baity, but then again to say that Gibson has fallen out of favour with Hollywood in recent years would be to put it mildly, so it’s hard to imagine how else he could ever have expected to re-ingratiate himself. Not having directed since 2006’s Apocalypto, and his acting career having sauntered off into The Expendables 3 and The Beaver territory, for Gibson it was go big or go home. With this season’s Hacksaw Ridge, big it is, and home he has come.
Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) has spent his whole life as a devout Christian, but committed above all to God’s commandment of ‘thou shalt not kill’. As the United States enters World War II in the wake of Pearl Harbour, Doss enlists as an army medic, though his unyielding objection to killing by his own hand quickly threatens his hopes of serving his country. For Doss, the choice is an impossible one: his love of country, or his love of God? But as the Japanese slaughter American troops by the garrison at the Maeda ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Escarpment, he soon learns how choice itself is a luxury that warzones cannot afford.
WWII action-dramas, it seems, have a tendency of going in either one of two directions at the expense of the other: action, or drama. The Fury route (war in all the bloody brutality of the battlefield), or the Schindler’s List route (war as plague on the hearts and minds of society). Rarely does a film find that perfect mid-point between the two, and to date Saving Private Ryan is generally considered to be the standard-bearer. Hacksaw Ridge isn’t that missing piece of the spectrum, but that doesn’t stop it from taking a much-deserved place in the Hall of Honourable Mentions. There’s no two-ways about it: Gibson has absolutely knocked this one out of the park.
Garfield delivers the performance of his career to date, the role of Doss becoming something of a comeback of his own, richly deserving of the plethora of nominations he has received this season. It’s no easy thing to sell an individual defined by his devout religious belief to an increasingly secular cinema-going public, but Garfield makes sure to convey the man far beyond this fundamental. Doss is shy, but his will is steel, and at no point does his emotional conflict ever feel contrived for the sake of added drama. Even his pure persistence in sticking to his principles, more likely to irritate audiences with its outright irrationality, never feels offputtingly obstructive and obtuse. Doss is governed by his heart, and we feel it every step of the way. Teresa Palmer deserves ample credit also not only for what she brings to the table as Doss’ wife Dorothy, but for the chemistry she shares with Garfield, their romance playing out in classic-yet-sincere fashion. Special mention should also go to Hugo Weaving as Doss’ Great War veteran father, his volatility and survivor’s guilt offering a bleak contrast to Garfield’s faith like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Gibson could have just settled for a solid war film with some standout action sequences and a sensational star headlining, but his efforts continue yet further with a supporting cast of richly real characters. Vince Vaughn’s turn as Doss’ unit Sergeant Lovell may be something of an adjustment at first to audiences familiar with his filmography (Wedding Crashers, Anchorman), but it makes sense in the context of his pursuing more dramatic roles post-True Detective. It’s a solid performance in and of itself, but greatly enhanced by the talents of the rest of their unit. Luke Bracey, Luke Pegler, Richard Pyros, Ben Mingay, Firass Dirani, to name a few, avoid the pitfalls of cardboard cut-out clichés in camo and from the very first convey full and vivacious personalities, all of which serves to heighten the tension and unpredictability of the combat scenes. Every character has been invested in by the story, and so we feel every character’s peril. It’s a balancing act rarely pulled off to such a satisfying extent, and it’s a storytelling talent never-before-seen from the film’s director, yet Gibson defies expectations.
But for all Hacksaw Ridge’s heartfelt spirit and Gibson’s typically upfront religious imagery (albeit in fairness more restrained here than in his past works), it’s the doubling-down-and-then-some on the battlefield scenes that truly electrifies this film-going experience. Not in recent memory has any film shown the horrors of war quite so vividly and relentlessly through practically every production department a film can have. Corpses whole, dismembered and blown-to-pieces strewn across bloodstained rock and dirt, rats feasting on remains at night, organs scattered, and the air filled with screams and gunfire. As soldiers charge into the fray, the camerawork deftly balances clarifying shots of the battlefield with frenzied-but-focused edits. Shaky cam isn’t the obnoxious and distracting tool it has been for so many films today; it’s a distinct part of the visual language, and all of it captures Doss’ journey into hell and back again to the fullest degree imaginable. The setting for the action never strays from the same moderately-sized battlefield atop the ridge, but for all the chaos and intensity it might just as well be the Somme.
What should have been a beyond by-the-numbers Oscar-seeker, Gibson takes away and returns an experience of battle with such uncompromising spectacle it will surely rank alongside Spielberg’s Normandy beaches, with a story grounded above all by an exemplary cast of characters who bring this piece of history to vibrant life.
Quality: 4/5
Entertainment: 4/5
Final Score: 4/5
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