The movie opens to showcase the horrors of war. Bodies littered around so badly that soldiers had to run over them, fire burning off skin, explosions blowing up chunks of flesh, and bullets shredding bodies. All while this is happening you can hear a passage from the book of Isaiah (40:28-31).
“‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.’”
The movie “Hacksaw Ridge,” named after the real ridge located on the southern part of Okinawa Island, follows the combat medic Desmond Doss on his journey through the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. What sets Doss apart from every other medic in the Pacific Theatre is that he refuses to carry a single weapon to protect himself. This is significant because the Japanese soldiers specifically targeted medics to discourage U.S. forces.
As a result, medics chose to not wear any red cross markings that would otherwise make them stand out and carry a firearm with them at all times. Many chose to take pistols or carbines to protect themselves and the wounded men they were tending to. However, Doss elected to not touch a gun throughout because he believed that all human life is sacred.
This movie was directed by Mel Gibson and is an amazing watch for pretty much anyone. It depicts a combat medic and conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon into war. The enemy targeted him, his company resented him for his beliefs, and he struggled to rectify his will with that of God’s will.
Doss was a Seventh Day Adventist who believed that the 5th commandment, “thou shall not murder,” meant any ending of a human life was against God’s will. This, as well as an incident involving almost shooting his father, lead Doss to vowing to never touch a gun ever again.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies because of the amazing testimony of a real-life war hero. Over the course of many hours, Doss saved about 75 wounded soldiers, who otherwise would have never made it back down the ridge to safety.
“Help me get one more,” Doss said. “Help me get one more.”
Doss said this while on the top of the ridge, tending to the wounded and getting shot at. This was not only a theatrical choice made by the director and screenwriters, but a real prayer Doss would say to communicate with God to grant him the strength to save just one more man.
In my favorite scene of the movie, Doss sits in a military court where he was being court martialed for not following direct orders from his company commander to pick up a rifle. Doss was asked why he wants to fight in war yet doesn’t want to take up arms.
“It isn’t right that other men should fight and die, that I would just be sitting at home safe,” Doss said. “I need to serve. I have the energy and the passion to serve as a medic. Right in the middle with the other guys, no less danger just … while everybody else is taking life, I’m gonna be saving it. With the world so set on tearing itself apart, doesn’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.”
After receiving new evidence, the prosecution withdrew the charges against him.
“Private Doss, you are free to run into the hellfire of battle without a single weapon to protect yourself,” the military judge said.
This movie showcases the unbreakable human spirit and the love that God has for all of us. God protected Doss and gave him the strength and guidance to save many lives. This movie can only show so much, who knew that the 12 hours Doss spent on the top of Hacksaw cannot be boiled down to two. He risked his life to save the lives of strangers and men who had previously thought him crazy or a plane coward.
“Doss, as soon as we get into combat, I’ll make sure you won’t come back alive,” a fellow soldier said.
Through the hatred others had for him, including his fellow countrymen, Doss never wavered in the duties God had given him. Doss inspires many, including myself, to always trust in God’s plan and keep to your beliefs.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first,” John 15:18-21 wrote. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”
Doss claimed to have only saved 50 men on Hacksaw Ridge over the course of a few days, while the army estimated that the real number may have been closer to 100. Eventually, both reached the conclusion of about 75 individual lives saved personally by the heroic actions of a conscientious objector, who was labeled as a “coward.” Doss was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 12, 1945, by President Harry S. Truman in a White House ceremony.
In one of the final film scenes, Doss had already saved 75 men on top of Hacksaw and was now beloved by his company. The entire regiment was silently standing at the bottom of the ridge, waiting to make the deadly ascent upwards. The silence in the air was deafening but was broken up with the yelling of a higher-ranking officer over the radio.
“What the hell is your delay captain? You were supposed to begin that assault ten minutes ago.”
“We’re waiting sir.”
“Waiting for what?”
“For private Doss to finish praying for us sir.”
“Private Doss is praying for you. Who the hell is a private Doss?”
The men go back up the ridge for the final time. Doss once again proves himself selfless when a group of Japanese soldiers emerge raising a white flag in an attempt to surrender. This was a cruel trick.
The “surrendering” Japanese throw grenades to kill the Americans, but Doss rushes to hit one grenade away with his hand and kicks another. The second blows up mid-air, flinging Doss away. He again saved the lives of countless more men.
This movie really exemplifies the heroism that Doss showed, and the sacrifices made by the soldiers in the Pacific. I love this movie a lot and believe that it’s probably the best war movie ever made. Yes, better than “Saving Private Ryan,” though it is really close, and “1917.” Both are amazing movies, but nothing compares to the brave actions of one Virgina-born conscientious objector.
At the end of the movie, it shows interviews with some of the many people Doss had saved, as well as the man himself. He recounted a story of one of the men he had saved on the ridge.
“Blood had run down to the fellas face and eyes,” Doss said. “He was laying there just groaning, calling, ‘Medic.’ I took water from my canteen and just got some bandage, and I washed his face. And when that blood was washed from his eyes, eyes came up. Man, he just lit up. He says, ‘I thought I was blind.’ And if I hadn’t got anything more to that smile, he gave me, I would’ve been well repaid.”
