Year: 2016
Director: Mel Gibson
Country: US
Language: English
In the early 2000's Mel Gibson was well on his way to becoming a Hollywood Legend. He had already won two Oscars for his Scottish epic Braveheart and had acted in some of the highest grossing films in the history of American cinema. Passion of the Christ had many on the fence, but surely...oh no. Gibson's alcoholism got the best of him and he was caught saying many anti-semetic and racist rants on camera. Blacklisted from tinsel-town for a solid decade, Gibson would find his comeback with the mesmerizing Hacksaw Ridge.
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people, and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Lately the right-wing minority of Hollywood seems to love making movies about heroic patriots. Clint Eastwood's latest ventures produced American Sniper (2014) and Sully (2016). These biographies often tell a complicated tale in very simple terms, eliminating any area of grey. I'd say Gibson's work is far superior, despite writing Desmond Doss as a goody two shoes hero. He does a tremendous job at actually demonstrating a crisis of faith and depicting how much one must suffer in order to stay true to their deeply held convictions.
Gibson contrasts his main character's pacifism with the horrors and brutality of modern war. The second half of the film is jarring, with the screen being filled with blood, entrails, and maggot ridden corpses. In one shot we see a soldier run at his enemy, using the corpse of his friend as a shield against the bullets. This amount of gore would put the Saw series to shame. Though no film can depict war without unintentionally glorifying it, Gibson , alongside cinematographer Simon Duggan and editor John Gilbert,do a damn fine job at making me want to stay the hell away from a battlefield.
Evangelical film-makers ought to study Gibsons' work so they can produce a quality product instead of the heavily sanitized jokes that are God's not Dead, War Room and so many other supposed "crisis of faith" films. Overall Hacksaw Ridge will be a very divisive picture among the public, but I must admit that I found myself very deeply engaged with the material presented.
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