Posted on 09/05/2016 10:48:04 AM PDT by NRx
Director: Mel Gibson; Starring: Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths. Cert tbc, 131 mins.
What could have possibly attracted Mel Gibson to the story of Desmond Doss, a man whose unconventional religious beliefs made him a pariah among his peers, but who, once the system had learned to grudgingly accommodate him, worked wonders and saved souls through sheer force of conviction? Desmond was a committed Seventh Day Adventist and pacifist who served as a US Army medic at Okinawa, saving 75 lives without ever lifting a weapon – and the curiously ideal subject for what is unquestionably going to be viewed as Gibson’s comeback movie.
Hacksaw Ridge is a fantastically moving and bruising war film that hits you like a raw topside of beef in the face – a kind of primary-coloured Guernica that flourishes on a big screen with a crowd. It is Gibson’s first film as director since Apocalypto in 2006 – and, more pertinently, since a string of scandals and public disgraces toxified his career in the years that followed. Its story of an outcast finding redemption through superhuman levels of suffering is pure Gibson: you could even call it the third part of an unofficial trilogy that also takes in Apocalypto and The Passion of the Christ (2004), except you sense Gibson will return in future to this story again and again, perhaps because of a deep-seated suspicion it may also be his.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Variety also gave it a great review.
Reminds me of Alvin York.
Look up Desmond Doss, very interesting
How generous of Gibson - a Catholic - to make a movie about a Seventh Day Adventist when SDA is viciously anti-Catholic. Gibson looked past their hatred and bigotry to see a decent man. I wish they could return the favor more often.
He should have just ran away to Canada and smoke weed...
/s
Let’s face it.
It’s because it’s a film about a Soldier who wouldn’t carry a rifle.
That’s the story Hollywood wants these days.
There are a million stories about Soldiers who had rifles carrying their buddies out of the fire.
Hollywood doesn’t want those.
Too politically incorrect.
Saw it.
My thoughts...
Forrest Gump meets Alvin York. Good movie because I like war movies just does not drive it home for me.
Question for you WWII historians: Was there actually a place called Hacksaw Ridge? I don’t recall ever hearing the name even when I was briefly based on Okinawa.
He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands.
On May 2, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within eight yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety.
On May 5, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire.
On May 21, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, by a sniper bullet while being carried off the field by a comrade, this time suffering a compound fracture of one arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.
Yeah, a guy Who didn’t even carry a rifle, but somehow managed to win the medal of honor. And you don’t think that’s a story worth telling?
What has always struck me about Doss is that his fellow soldiers tried to drive him out of the army anyway they could because they felt he could not be relied on.
When he exposed himself to enemy fire again and again, his wasn’t rescuing his buddies. He was risking his life for men who had ostracized him, mocked him and beat him.
He was risking his life for men who had ostracized him, mocked him and beat him.
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That sounds vaguely familiar. Where have I heard that before?
He was risking his life for men who had ostracized him, mocked him and beat him.
wow never thought of it that way......
Didn’t write that, did I?
Save your sanctimonious scrawl for someone who hasn’t written on Free Republic that there is a special place in heaven for Corpsmen and Medics.
Yes, I did write that.
A significant percentage of MOH recipients are medics/corpsmen. Hazardous military occupational specialty in combat. Today’s warfighters receive training and carry high tech emergency medical supplies with which they can treat their battle buddies’ wounds or their own, if able.
According to what a guy that served withe him from the beginning, that was not the case. The Company Commander did everything in his power to make life miserable for Desmond. it was him the guys hated. What they did threaten to kill Desmond for was using their medical supplies to treat Japanese wounded. I found the video on youtube a couple of years ago. I don’t remember the name of it. It may not even be on there now.
Your kidding right?
Can they finally leave Mel the f**k alone for his doing nothing but drunk and disorderly behavior?
Of course there are,but this guy wanted to serve but not to kill,he had the courage to stick by his principles and go into harms way without a weapon.
If the film portrays the others as idiots because they wanted to serve to save their country then you have a point.
I don’t know what the military policy was at the time,obviously the people involved looked at it as a way to avoid service, which Doss did not,he went into horrific battle weapon free,who among you criticizing would go to Iraq,Syria or anywhere else without a weapon?
Now if every person in the country felt the same way,we would be in a world of hurt,this world is ruled by the aggressive use of force,but accommodation can be made for people such as this
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