HACKSAW RIDGE
Leading up to its release the marketing for Hacksaw Ridge did its best to exclude mention of the film’s director, Mel Gibson. But the film also attracted attention because it was the story of a conscientious objector for the United States in a wartime setting. Andrew Garfield received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Desmond Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist, who was able to claim conscientious objector status, much to the chagrin of his military overseers and fellow soldiers.
This war film, much like Full Metal Jacket, is a story in two parts. We have Doss’s upbringing and his introduction to a young nurse (Teresa Palmer), before he enlists to help with the war effort. Basic training and subsequent court martialing for refusing to handle a gun look to encroach on Doss’s participation in the war until fate intervenes. All of which leads to a second half that is full of visceral battle footage that is every bit as devastating as Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
The heroics that would eventually lead Doss to receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor are awe-inspiring stuff. Doss would not compromise his beliefs and in the end his valor never wavered.
Hacksaw Ridge on Blu-ray is an audiophile’s dream with bombastic sound – which may explain the accolades it has received in sound editing and sound mixing this past year. To go along with great A/V presentation the disc has a nearly 70-minute documentary about the production and includes interviews with Mel Gibson and Doss’s son.
