'Hacksaw Ridge' review: "While everybody is taking life, i'm gonna be saving it"

8/10
Hacksaw Ridge is based on the true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a pacifist who enlisted in World War II but refused to carry a weapon or kill, preferring to save wounded men as a medic rather than taking a mans life ("while everybody is taking life, I'm gonna be saving it") . Director Mel Gibson doesn't shy away from showing extremely graphic war violence. We see Bullets pierce flesh in slow motion, explosions toss men in the air, bleeding leg and arm stumps are shown, throats are slashed, soldiers bayonet each other to death, and men are graphically gutted, disembodied, and beheaded, with entrails and ligaments left hanging. Doss is also beaten by his fellow soldiers during basic training due to his refusal to carry a weapon. And his superior officers jail and put him on trial.

Although this WWII action drama is a technical wonder, the soul of the movie feels at odds with itself. While director Mel Gibson fairly represents Doss' pacifist principles, he also simultaneously stages another movie, a stealth movie, that presents war as a glorious character builder, a nurturing ground for male friendship, and an expression of man's nobility and grit. Yes, Gibson dutifully records the severed limbs and the moaning, wounded, hideously disfigured soldiers. War is hell, the movie says over and over again.

But, the director also reminds us, it's not without moments of nobility and magnificence -- as evidence by the gorgeous slow-motion depictions of bombs landing on human targets, bursting into awe-inspiring flames, and killing and maiming who knows how many, just to prove his point (a point he previously made in Braveheart). So it's hard not to feel like Hacksaw Ridge works as hard to undermine Doss' position as it does to support it. Many of the soldiers and officers who at first abuse and look down on Doss for his refusal to carry a gun later apologize to him after recognizing his bravery and the depth of his convictions. All of that said, Garfield does a great job playing Doss with intelligence, charm, and a believable inner spiritual life.