Moit, Jayrick C.
GED117
CESE A16 Final Exam (M1)
Film Review
(Hacksaw Ridge)
Hacksaw Ridge is a movie about events that happened in World War II that took place in Okinawa, Japan.
The title of the movie is “Hacksaw Ridge” because the battle took place on Maeda escarpment that is known
as “Hacksaw Ridge” because of its sudden steep elevation. This is also where the highlight of the movie
happened where Pfc. Desmond Doss saved 75 wounded individuals from the battlefield while hiding from
the Japanese army. The Director of the film is Mel Gibson who is an American actor, film director, and
producer. He is known for acting and directing stories about individuals who is getting ill-treated and
promotes justice. The production took place in New South Wales, Australia, where Doss’s lives and
awarded. They remade the Okinawa battle scenes in the outskirts of Sydney, the location manager on the
film said that they made a huge change in the area since they wanted to mimic a war setting environment.
The production started at September 2015 and ended in December on the same year. The movie released in
November 2016 and won 2 Oscars and 56 wins and a total of 115 nominations.
The film is about the true story of Pfc. Desmond Doss, who is portrayed by Andrew Garfield, who joined
the army and risked his life by saving his fellow men and his captain during the battle of the Japanese army
in the Hacksaw ridge in Okinawa, Japan. Pfc. Desmond Doss is a pacifist who refused holding or using a
gun in the battlefield and in training. Because of his beliefs he encountered discriminations and ill-treatment
by his comrades and superiors who on the other hand believes that weapons and violence is the only way
to participate in the war. This resulted him to be pulled out from the army because of lack of trust from his
superiors that he can’t do anything in the war without using weapons. His father, who is a retired veteran,
helped him to stay on the army by using his connections and made Pfc. Desmond Doss to stay and
participate in the war.
There are many characters in the film that greatly contributed to the story, but the characters that is mainly
the story about is Desmond Doss, Tom Doss, Harold Doss, Dorothy Schuttle, Smitty Ryker, Captain Glover,
and Sergeant Howell. Desmond T. Doss is the pacifist medic main character that doesn’t want to hold or
kill someone with a weapon. Tom Doss is the father of Desmond, who is a retired veteran, that helped him
to stay at the army. Dorothy Schuttle is the woman that Desmond loves and helped him to get through the
challenges he encounters during the film. Smitty Ryker is the main antagonist in the film since he doesn’t
approves on Desmond’s ways and ideals and sees Desmond as a fellow competitor in the army. Captain
Glover is the captain of the company or department where Desmond’s is assigned to, he was against
Desmond’s beliefs on not using weapons in a war. Sergeant Howell is Desmond’s sergeant that was also
against Desmond’s beliefs and methods in the battlefield.
The film is based on true story making it more relatable and understandable to the audiences. Such as how
Pfc. Doss’ hardships and determination on serving his country saves his men that can inspire the soldiers
and future soldiers around the world. And how he overcome the challenges and ignores what people thinks
of him that we could compare to many of us that struggles in life because of the challenges and the opinion
of others about us, it’s telling us that we can achieve and pursue what we want as long as we have faith,
determination and passion on what we do. In this film we can imagine what is really happening in a war
and what are the characters feeling since it is based on true story making the audiences understand the film
more. The setting and music are made so well that it can make the audience be immersed on the story. The
actors and actresses portrayed their characters fluently making the audience feel their emotions and relates
them to what the characters experiences. We can all connect to the protagonist’s situation since many of us
struggles in life and encountered many obstacles that stopping us from reaching our goal. And just like the
antagonist in the story, Smitty Ryker, we will have someone that will stop us and drags us down so we
could fail in life, but we should never give up and continue to pursue what we want just like what Desmond
Doss did and we might be also able to achieve big things or maybe save someone because of what we do.
All in all, Hacksaw Ridge is an amazing film that could make people feel emotions and could also inspire
them. We can all learn many lessons in this film especially it is based on true story making the scenarios
more realistic and relatable. I will recommend everyone to watch this film if they want to have a peak on
what happened on WWII, and to know who Pfc. Desmond Doss is and why he was a great combat medic.
References:
Goundry, N. (2017, February 23). Oscars 2017: Hacksaaw Ridge filmed in Australia. KEMPS FILM TV
VIDEO. Retieved September 7, 2022, from
https://www.kftv.com/news/2017/02/23/oscars-2017-hacksaw-ridge-filmed-australia-as-okinawa
IMDb.com. (n.d.). Hacksaw Ridge. IMDb. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119532/awards/?ref_=tt_awd
IMDb.com. (n.d.). Mel Gibson. IMDb. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000154/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
LibGuides. (n.d.). Desmond Doss & hacksaw ridge: Home. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from
https://libraryguides.lynchburg.edu/desmondtdoss#!
Peabody, M. (2016, February 4). Mel Gibson's Desmond Doss Film Enters post-production:
Release target in time for Oscar? ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom®.
Retrieved September 7, 2022, from
https://religiousliberty.tv/doss-film-hacksaw-ridge-enters-post-production-and-targets-
2016-release.html
