First Hacksaw Ridge trailer builds slowly then hits you in the heart
The first trailer for Hacksaw Ridge, the highly anticipated Mel Gibson-directed World War II drama, is finally here. Gibson, while seemingly always controversial, can do no wrong as a director in my mind, and this movie looks to be a heartfelt character study of one soldier’s struggle to save as many men as he can rather than kill them during the war. I don’t know what’s more inspiring, the return of a director who many thought would never make it back or the true story of Desmond Doss brought to the big screen. Both are worth getting excited over, and Hacksaw Ridge is already generating hushed whispers regarding Oscar potential.
Watch the trailer for Hacksaw Ridge, read a plot synopsis, read an even more inspiring/most likely spoiler-filled Medal of Honor citation for Desmond Doss, and check out the first poster for the movie after the jump.
While the trailer gets off to a slow start, that finale is powerful enough to tease what could be an amazing movie. Regardless of Gibson’s off-screen antics, the man knows story structure and can weave together a solid film on par with some of the best working today. It’s been 10 years since his last movie (can you believe Apocaltypto came out in 2006?), and Hacksaw Ridge could be just what the director needs to really start working again. Hopefully this is his Robert Downey Jr.-style return to glory.
Until we can see the movie in theaters, here’s the official plot synopsis for Hacksaw Ridge:
Hacksaw is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
If the trailer and plot synopsis aren’t enough, and you’re willing to wade into spoiler territory, the Medal of Honor citation for Desmond Doss (the real guy at the center of Hacksaw Ridge the movie) is just ridiculous in the most inspirational way. Doss did some heroic things during the war:
He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet [120 m] high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying all 75 casualties one-by-one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On May 2, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards [180 m] forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards [7.3 m] of enemy forces in a cave’s mouth, where he dressed his comrades’ wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On May 5, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet [7.6 m] from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards [91 m] to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On May 21, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers’ return, he was again struck, by a sniper bullet while being carried off the field by a comrade, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards [270 m] over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.
Hacksaw Ridge stars Andrew Garfield, Hugo Weaving, Sam Worthington, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Rachel Griffiths, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh, and Milo Gibson. The movie hits theaters later this fall on November 4, 2016.
