Hacksaw Ridge

I would label Hacksaw Ridge as a movie that is flawed, but still manages to work.  This is Mel Gibson's big return to the director's chair after a decade-long absence, as well as a chance to hopefully win back the audience he lost with some of his past personal actions.  The fact that it's an old fashioned patriotic war story is pretty much a guarantee that it will find some kind of audience.  And when I say old fashioned, I mean that in both the best and worst ways.

In telling the story of Desmond Doss, a U.S. army medic in the Second World War who refused to touch a gun as a conscientious objector, yet who nevertheless won the U.S. Medal of Honor for his courage under fire, Gibson has decided to portray Doss with the kind of aw-shucks charm that Jimmy Stewart may have brought to the role.  Andrew Garfield, playing Doss, does have a sweet smile and a kind of everyman quality that is very appealing.  The first half of the film is devoted to Doss growing up in an ideal little town that looks like it stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  It's sun-drenched streets and woods are draped in nostalgia, and you can almost smell the pies cooling on the windowsill.  Here, we are introduced to Doss as the God-fearing son of a loving mother (Rachel Griffiths) and alcoholic father (Hugo Weaving), who can be violent, but really is just haunted by memories of his past as a soldier.

Doss leads a simple life of going to church, and trying to woo a local nurse named Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), who falls fast for his downhome charms.  But when the war breaks out, Doss feels it is his duty to serve the military, even though he is opposed to killing or even handling a gun.  He wants to be a military medic so that he can save lives instead of taking them.  He heads off to basic training, where his stance on guns and killing immediately makes him a target for bullying from his fellow enlistees, as well as authority figures represented by Vince Vaughn (who is surprisingly effective as a tough Drill Sergeant), Sam Worthington and Richard Roxburgh.  Doss stands strong in his belief, even when he is threatened with a court-martial.  Eventually, he does get to see combat in the Pacific theatre and the Battle of Okinawa, where Doss' platoon battles the Japanese army in one of the most bloody and ferocious battles of the war.

Gibson's ability to portray the horrors of the battle do border somewhat on overkill, as he repeatedly shows us images of heads being blasted open, and internal organs being spilled.  But, there's no denying that there is a definite power to the scenes on the battlefield.  When Doss stays behind after the rest of his group have left, and continues to find and help wounded soldiers who were left behind, you can't help but feel pride.  He also effectively captures the chaos of war, as there are many times when the soldiers either cannot see the enemy, or everything is blowing up around them that they can't really concentrate on what's right in front of them.  These scenes in Hacksaw Ridge are already being compared to the opening half of Saving Private Ryan.  Personally, I think Gibson relishes in the violence just a bit, while Spielberg definitely was going more for horror.  But, both do capture the chaos and confusion of what it must have felt to be in their respective fateful battles.

What ultimately holds the movie from greatness is that it really is two separate films.  The first hour or so is an overly sentimental and kind of corny small town life story.  Then it transitions to the harsh realities of war, and this is where the movie is most effective.  The first half is far too simple and sweet, and we don't quite learn enough about Doss as an individual.  It is the scenes on the battlefield that gives this movie the emotional depth it eventually has.  It's also why I am recommending the film.  We finally get behind Doss, and get to see his determination and struggle.  It's strange that the first half seems so overly sanitized, almost like a 1940s film adaptation of Doss' life.  The change in tone is quite jarring, but it's ultimately effective, because it leads into the part of the film that actually works.

Hacksaw Ridge has more than enough moments of emotional power to recommend, but you have to get through some awfully sappy and artificial stuff first.  If you can get past it, I think you'll ultimately find the movie rewarding.  At the very least, it's almost certain to give Gibson back at least part of the audience he lost.

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