Hacksaw Ridge is a film dedicated to telling the story of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector in the Battle of Okinawa. A Virginian Seventh Day Adventist, Doss felt the need to serve in the military, but refused to pick up arms throughout his training and during battle. Facing criticism on many sides, Doss continued to stand by his beliefs and was able to save the lives of 75 men without ever taking up arms.

Having never heard of Desmond Doss, I was completely astounded by his story. Considering the pressure that people are put under during a war and the additional pressure Doss faced for being a conscientious objector, I also found it inspiring that Doss was able to stand by his beliefs. As a Virginian myself, I’m surprised that I have not heard about his story and the way that he had an impact on the lives that he saved on Hacksaw Ridge. While the religious take on the film may not be to everyone’s taste as was mentioned in the discussion after the film, I think that most people can agree that there is courage in not falling under pressure and standing by your beliefs, whether it be religious or not.

“Hacksaw Ridge” is not an ordinary war movie; It contains a lot more important details than just about combat. The most surprising element of the movie was how one of the characters was willing to do everything in order to help his people except that he refused to take up a weapon. Although he was not relied upon at first, after a certain period of time his strong determination changed others’ perception of him. The fact that he had to overcome multiple obstacles and still kept faith in God is amazing. The main idea is that everyone has to go through difficult times but those who do not give up are the ones that will succeed in the end.

Morals, Ideals are words which are thrown around commonly now. After watching the movie, I thought about do I stand for, what is it so deeply that I believe that I can take a bullet for? I cannot find an answer for this, honesty, integrity and respect are things I hope to stand for but certainly, there have been times where my not so good judgment has fallen through the cracks. But is having very strong ideals equivalent to being stubborn? I feel there needs to be a balance, certainly one should stand by things tone believes in but one also has to recognize that their duty is above that and regardless of their belief they have to do what they have to do. And honestly, that’s what the movie showed, one can flex their beliefs, without giving them up, to accomplish their duty.

Wow. I thought this movie was so powerful on many levels. For me, the main theme was conviction and the willingness of an individual to stay true to his values and faith. Desmond Ross was bullied and humiliated, and yet, he refused to use or hold a gun while being at war. Ironically, some might say that this also made him the bravest and most valuable person on the battle field, given how many men he ended up saving. But to me it was expected to happen.

Since the beginning, one could see how good of a man he was and how he wanted to help as a medic. People tend to judge based on beliefs and what’s unknown to them, and that’s exactly what happened. When we don’t understand something, we judge and sometimes even attack others. I believe this movie is a reminder for people to be more open minded and accepting of those that are different to what we consider “ordinary” and believe in different things. Get to know people before judging them, you’ll be surprised to know that you have a lot in common and that at the end of the day, they are a human being just like you and me.

I went into the film concerned that it was going to have a morally righteous lecture within, or that it would look down on people who were less religious. I was pleasantly surprised by the end of the movie that it can simply be interpreted as the story of an individual who did something extraordinary. The main character was clearly influenced by his religion which affected the way that he performed in war. Along with this, naturally, there are plenty of interpretations that do revolve around his religious beliefs and the ways they controlled and affected his life. Personally, I found their constant emphasis a little bit forced. Far be it from me to say what he believed in real life, but every time it came up I found myself a little taken out of the story. I understand that they wanted religion to be a key point but it felt very forced when his father confronted him and that the war wouldn’t fit with his “Ideas”. Perhaps they could’ve spent more time setting up the specifics of his religious beliefs, at least at first they come as a surprise. I really admire his resolution in his beliefs and I think if they had aimed the movie more on his accomplishment and how he achieved it, perhaps the importance of his religion would come more naturally. While I don’t personally agree with him, I think it’s a shame that so many of the conflicts and interactions relating to his beliefs tend to take you out of the movie when they’re interesting and clearly important.

Hacksaw Ridge  was a very inspirational movie for me. It reflected the combination of strong personal values, childhood beliefs, religion and true love in a triumphant manner. I felt very inspired and encouraged watching the movie. I felt the conviction of sticking to my beliefs even in the toughest of moments. The love story in the movie also reminded me of the deeper and more meaningful relationships people shared in the past, as compared to the ones we see in the present. The movie also reconnected me to some world war books I had read in the past, and helped me remember the joy of reading historical stories and books.

One of my favorite film genres is Action Films. And within that genre, I enjoy watching movies depicting historical events such as Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor. In all of the films, I have watched the characters participating in the war are always armed to the teeth. It makes sense since there wouldn’t be anyone who would be “crazy” or “stupid” enough to go to war with the possession of weapons. These are some of the few nasty words that his fellow soldiers would call Desmon Doss during their military training. Their reason was that Desmon Doss was actually willing to volunteer in the US army with the condition that he would not kill anyone. What made Desmond Doss make this choice was his deep religious belief. He was a Seventh-day Adventist and the 6th commandment prohibits him from committing murder.

He signed up for The US Army during World War II in order to fight in the Pacific theater against Japan. Yet, he was given a rough time during his early career due to everyone around him not wanting him to participate in the war without a weapon. He was verbally and physically abused by everyone that surrounded him. At one point he was left heavily wounded after many attackers brutally punched and kicked him. Yet, he persevered and decided to continue his training. He was even falsely accused of having mental problems so that we would be discharged. And at one point was one taken to court for not following orders of a higher commander. Nobody in the military wanted him around, yet soon everybody’s mind would quickly change when they enter the battlefield. In fact, many would be lucky if such a brave soldier was by their side.

During the US Army’s campaign in the Pacific theatre, they were stuck on Okinawa, Japan. His battalion was sent to the Hacksaw Ridge battleground to take over the strategic military location. Of course, the Japanese Army was highly aware of its importance and every square inch was heavily protected from invaders. During one the battles against the Japanese, the battalion was surprised by the Japanese causing them to surrender their position. It was swarmed with so many enemy soldiers that support fire was provided by neighboring ships. Despite this Desmond Doss decided to stay behind and save as many wounded soldiers as he could. At this point, I could not believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe such a brave man was willing to stay back in a war zone filled with enemy soldiers and bombarded by tons of artillery. His act of courage was so highly praised by everyone around him that he went from being the most hated man in the war to a national hero that would later be awarded the Medal Honor. I am truly grateful for all the brave man that serve, or have served, the United States through military service.

After watching the film Hacksaw Ridge, I felt inspired to be more serious about my beliefs by the story of PFC Desmond Doss and how he stood by his personal beliefs in spite of outside pressure. While I do not share Doss’ beliefs towards pacifism, I do share his belief in Jesus and am able to understand the basis of Doss’ personal promises to God, at least as portrayed in the film and why this was so important to him and his relationship to God. As society becomes increasingly more intolerant as while simultaneously becoming more politically correct, this film, while featuring characters, conflicts, and stories of a different time, is very relevant to our current world. Regardless of what each of us believes, it is clear that people are becoming either intolerant and unaccepting of others different from them, or hiding and suppressing their own beliefs out of fear of offending others. This film portrays a middle road, where Doss is able to maintain his beliefs in spite of others intolerance while not condemning the other soldiers for their nonacceptance of his beliefs.  He neither forces his beliefs on others, nor does he condemn others for their intolerance. He simply lives his lives according to what he believes in. I believe we should be like Doss in that we should feel free to according to our beliefs, but without creating fear in others that you might hate them for theirs.

Last Friday I watched a film called “Hacksaw Ridge”, which details the real life story of Desmond T. Doss – a man who served in the American military as a conscientious objective, choosing not to carry a gun and performed duties as a field medic. The climax of the film details the extraordinary heroics of our hero, wherein he lowered hundreds of people to safety from the top of the ridge, saving many lives – an action which ultimately won him the Medal of Honor.

I’ll be upfront and say there are aspects of the film which do not sit well with me, but I want to say here and now that the critique which follows is in no way intended as a commentary on the real life Desmond Doss. I agree wholeheartedly with the assessment of his actions that won him the Medal of Honor, and do think his story could function as truly inspirational and awe inspiring. What follows is a critique of a movie (and a character in a movie), not a man.

It could easily be argued that one of the themes of “Hacksaw Ridge” is that of motive – the absence of motive for going to war is arguably what drove Desmond’s father to alcoholism. The pointlessness of the first war, the loss of his friends for no motivating reason, clearly drains him. The call to arms made by the U.S. after Pearl Harbor motivates the young men of the entire nation to enlist, and this along with the pressure of the enlistment of so many of his friends motivates Desmond T. Doss to enlist. And, his religious beliefs motivate him to pursue the unusual military career he ultimately had. This religious belief directly motivates his actions at the battle of Hacksaw ridge – his prayer (true to life) is shown, as he asks to keep grabbing one more man after another from the top of the ridge that he might lower them to safety.

Desmond is an individual deeply passionate in his beliefs. In the spirit of empathy, I want to consider another man likely deeply passionate in his beliefs. During the battle of Hacksaw ridge, a Japanese soldier lights a grenade, holds it to his chest, and hugs an American soldier – killing them both. I cannot comment on the accuracy of such action to real Japanese soldiers from the war, but within the context of a movie it paints a troubling picture. Desmond’s belief is directly correlated with the success of the Americans on the ridge – the commanding officer says as much, and the film goes out of its way to show how inspired his fellow soldiers are with his actions and commitment to his belief system in the end. The film emphasizes the correlation between Desmond’s beliefs and the victory of the American army. If I were to give the film the benefit of the doubt, I would say this correlation is with the strength of his beliefs. Because Desmond believed deeply, honestly, and with conviction, the American military was victorious. Yet we are presented with the equally passionate strength and conviction of the Japanese soldier. One could argue that Desmond’s strength “wins” because he was motivated towards peaceful actions. I see two problems with this perspective however. The first is that Desmond’s actions ultimately promote violence – the way he carried his sergeant actively allowed the superior officer to kill more people, and moreover, his being a source of inspiration killed hundreds in the victory. It’s hard to call Desmond peaceful in the end (he even says so himself – he believes the enemy is the Devil and needs to be stopped. He just can’t hold a gun himself). Secondly, what is the source of this arbitration between peace and violence? Why should Desmond’s passions be judged superior? It is ultimately a (largely good) Christian sentiment – but then we are left with a troubling picture. Was it that God led the American troops to victory? In fighting under Desmond’s prayer, did the battle of Hacksaw Ridge as depicted in the film become a holy war? That such a consideration might be lauded is something I find deeply troubling.

I also want to mention the absence of any black soldiers at Okinawa. There were some present, and in my memory absolutely none were shown in the film. That’s another argument, however, for another time.
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003132-00/sec11.htm

I am a person not affiliated to any religious group. I tried to respect people with religious beliefs, but never with any true understanding. I was shocked by how religious faith could outburst one’s physical and mental strength just out of altruism, in this movie based on a true story.

The power of his religion mainly was represented in two moments on Desmond Doss: the refusal of touching the guns (or, this might also be rooted more from his terrible experience in a family with a father who had traumatic pain due to having been at war), and the super-humanly grit in rescuing his comrades at the Hacksaw Ridge. I could not believe how a man could survive extreme weariness and injuries (Mr. Doss’s hands were blurred with flesh, blood and dirt due to repeatedly sending the wounded down the ridge by simply pulling on the ropes), and bear more than a few times the horror of being killed right away (stabbed by the japs’ bayonet without moving in the process of pretending dead camouflaged by a dead body, running away from a grenade and hiding from the japs in the underground tunnel without a weapon at hand (this theme indeed frightened me), etc., etc.). Mr. Doss was not someone not afraid of death–he was extremely horrified in a number of cases and woke up from nightmares but still tried his best to survive and to save others, and God played such an important role in it.

In my opinion God mainly served as an accompaniment and source of strength. The hardest moment for a human to stick to what he/she is doing is when he/she realised being alone. But provided Mr. Doss’s firm faith, I think he actually believed that God exists, and when he was facing all the difficulties alone, he actually felt that God was looking over him, accompanying him, giving him guide and strength, for he always murmured “God, help me get one more” when he felt that he was almost dead spent in the rescue. No matter how terrified he was, he always smiled and said “Now I get you, it’ll be ok” when he approached the wounded just like he was God himself. It is cliché that human potential can be invoked in extreme situations, but that is especially in the case when someone firmly believes to be accompanied, supported, and given strength by a higher being than the world itself. By inheriting God in one’s heart, one becomes nearer to God.

After seeing the Film Hacksaw Ridge, I am impressed by how far one’s own conviction brings an individual. If we are a strong believer at something it seems that despite whatever society thinks, we can accomplish whatever we believe we can which shows the power of will. In my past, I have been determined to accomplish many things and over time they have worked out and the film reinforces this concept through the character of Doss, whose strong belief in not holding arms makes him one of the most courageous medics during battle. I believe the main lesson for me to take from this movie is that if we strongly believe in something that society may not believe in, then regardless of how many ever hardships we go through we can still fulfil our beliefs.