Hacksaw Ridge

Finally saw this "pacifist goes to war" film. It was as gory and bloody a film as I have seen, to the point that I started thinking about the violence as cartoonish instead of realistic. This is John Wick violence, not Fury or Eye in the Sky violence that shows how gruesome and ugly war actually is. On that front, the film (for me) was a loss. The story is of Private Doss, a 7th Day Adventist who enlists for WWII with the understanding that he will be able to be a combat medic and not carry a weapon. The first 2/3 of the film is this drama playing out (pre-enlistment life, boot camp drama, etc.). The final 1/3 is a singular battle in Okinawa where U.S. forces are attempting to take Hacksaw Ridge from the entrenched Japanese. I feel like the entire pacifism identity was portrayed as an excuse to make a brutal film, or as putting "the pacifist" in a zoo to look at. And somehow, I still walked away feeling as if, even agreeing with the pacifist, I should also glory in the war. So the "alternate point of view" subtly hides the fact that this is not a critique on war or violence culture at all, meaning no real depth of understanding of pacifism communicated. I am not sure what I was expecting or hoping for, but largely this left me feeling flat. It was by no means awful, but the (I believe) intentional haziness of intended, and received messages makes this perhaps more dangerous than good for pacifism.

3 stars (out of 5)