Mel Gibson’s return to the director’s chair is a triumph, with Hacksaw Ridge a true-life story of powerful spiritual significance in its portrayal of combat medic Desmond Doss whose conviction in his Christian faith brought about remarkable feats of heroism during WWII.    

The great thing about movies is that they can remind us of those heroic men and women lost in the sands of history. Solomon Northup (12 Years a Slave), Oskar Schindler (Schindler’s List), Karen Silkwood (Silkwood)… These are some of the names resurrected from the abyss of time thanks to filmmakers able and willing to bring their courageous stories to many of us who wouldn’t know of them otherwise.

And so it goes with Desmond Doss, a WWII army medic and staunch Christian (Seventh Day Adventist to be precise) who won the Medal of Honour for bravery on the battlefield despite never carrying a weapon, the first “conscientious objector” to do so. Such strong religious conviction often comes with much obstacle, which is chronicled to engrossing, heart wrenching effect in Hacksaw Ridge, the latest movie from Mel Gibson who himself has crawled out of Hollywood purgatory and quite possibly back into Oscar contention with his fifth film as director one of his best.

The always impressive Andrew Garfield plays the role of Doss, a young man from Virginia whose past experiences with violence (one especially at his own hands that almost cost the life of his brother) confirming his strong commitment to his religion and especially the sixth commandment of “Thou Shall Not Kill”. It is when he volunteers to serve in WWII that things get very complicated very quickly, with his unit leaders Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) and Sargent Howell (Vince Vaughn) openly proclaiming their distrust towards Doss’ strong religious convictions. That distrust quickly seeps into his fellow soldiers, who keep a suspicious eye on Doss all the way up to the Battle of Okinawa where hearts and minds are changed, and history is written.

Gibson has boldly presented a story of powerful relevance, a declaration not only of faith but faith within a hostile world that looks to break a spirit that is unbreakable. The “faith based film” has never really gelled with mainstream audience (too pious, too simple, too preachy), yet Hacksaw Ridge effectively and quite masterfully presents its Christian story through its exemplification of faith in action as shown through Doss’ journey.

His was a war fought on two fronts: first against an untrusting military brass who sought to break his spirit, and the second on a battlefield drenched in the blood of many fallen before him. Gibson’s handle of the battle scenes is particularly powerful in their full-on-faucet intensity and violence, taking what Steven Spielberg presented in Saving Private Ryan and elevating it to seer-in-your-brain levels of action cinema. Amongst the chaos and violence of these war scenes is of course the grace of Doss’ courage, seeking out his fellow soldiers (wounded, frightened, exposed to the elements) and rescuing them from inevitable death, Doss praying to God to ‘please let me get one more…’. 81 in total were saved by his hand.

A bit about Andrew Garfield. There are many pitfalls in any potential portrayal of a man like Doss, with caricature especially an option for those with less talent and lesser insight. Yet Garfield excels in getting into the soul of Doss. Gibson’s film always present such authenticity in its characters and their ideals. In Doss displayed is not only a hero of battle, but a hero for all of those who need inspiration in standing up for what they believe in, no matter what that may be.