By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Mel Gibson
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Rachel Griffiths, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Luke Bracey and Vince Vaughn.
Rating: Excellent.
Academy Award Winning Director Mel Gibson is back 10 years after “Apocalypto” with “Hacksaw Ridge” and is one of the best movies of a battle that happened during World War II.
Based on real life events and shot completely in Australia, “Hacksaw Ridge” tells the story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) a young religious man from Virginia who enlists in the army as a combat medic.
During his training he refuses to carry a weapon due to his religious beliefs; at the beginning this will lead him to trouble that goes to a court trial. But the army lets him go to enemy lines without a rifle.
During the battle in Okinawa, Japan, Doss will save the lives of many of his comrades, making him one of the braviest men who served in the war and also becoming the first Conscientous Objetor in American History to be awarded with the Medal of Honor.
“Hacksaw Ridge” besides being a movie that takes place during World War II, it’s a movie that is well directed by Mel Gibson, who’s directing in his movies makes you feel part of the characters. We saw this in “Braveheart” with the character that of William Wallace, which he portrayed.
Also Gibson I consider him a visual storyteller and “Hacksaw Ridge” is beutifully shot by Simon Duggan who knew how to play with the contrasts of the movie in both before the war and during the war.
The screenplay written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan was crafted with so much detail and you can tell that both writers did the work in terms of the research and told a story that immediately as members of the audience we felt identified.
I’m very happy on seeing Mel Gibson in his prime and once again he has proved to be as one of Hollywood’s most talented filmmakers and directed fantastic performances, specially by Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer and Hugo Weaving.
“Hacksaw Ridge” is at the same level of movies like Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” and Clint Eastwood’s “Letters from Iwo Jima” since both movies take place during World War II.
Not only “Hacksaw Ridge” is a war drama, but it’s a movie that has a strong message on courage and perseverance and I was really moved by the movie and touched at all times.
Mel Gibson is at his best and directed another winner film and we might be seeing him with a third Academy Award in his career. As for Garfield he might be nailing an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor for his magnificent performance which is so far the best of his career.
The movie is really violent and hard to watch and is very important to keep this in mind and be prepared at all levels before you watch it since it is impacting as well.
“Hacksaw Ridge” is without a doubt one of the year’s best movies and I highly recommend it fot it’s directing, realism and top of the notch performances.