I opted not to offer to share this viewing with my Jewish dad. He later told me that he may be willing to forgive director Mel Gibson at this point, but I know he doesn't like Braveheart-level violence. I've had my own reservations, basically enjoying Gibson's early work while avoiding anything later than The Passion of the Christ. But this time the story intrigued me.
Country boy Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) gets caught up in his buddies' eagerness to serve in World War II. The only thing is, he has a personal rule against using violence for any reason. Unlike other medics, he won't even touch a rifle in practice. As you can imagine, this conscientious objector status causes a lot of strife with his peers and superiors. Only at the Battle of Okinawa do they understand that he's no coward; indeed, he rescues dozens of wounded, putting Forrest Gump to shame with a more fully earned Congressional Medal of Honor.
You may wonder how Desmond became so pacifistic and yet so determined to serve in a war. He cites his strict interpretation of the Bible (as a Seventh Day Adventist, he won't work on Saturday either), but that doesn't account for a policy against handling weapons. Or his vegetarianism, really. Mainly he gets it from having come all too close to killing his brother and then his father (Hugo Weaving) in youth. The latter, a physically abusive drunk still nursing emotional pain from World War I, is an interesting case. He hates to see his sons join the military, but he'll do his part to spare Desmond a dishonorable discharge.
Desmond finds love in local nurse Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) shortly before enlisting. I find his style of courtship pretty annoying, but I also understand how she fell for him. They plan to marry at his first leave, which gets put on hold due to conflict with the upper ranks.
While watching, I realized that I never take interest in most individual soldiers in war movies. This one tries to make sure they don't run together for you, but I can't shake a determination not to grow attached, as a large number won't make it out in one piece. I'd rather smirk in amusement at the drill sergeant putdowns reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket or An Officer and a Gentleman.
About halfway through the runtime, our focus goes from boot camp to the field. Then, of course, it becomes challenging to watch. Think of the start of Saving Private Ryan minus the shaky cam and with a Gladiator amount of dismemberment. It gets so over the top that I wondered if some viewers would find it funny after a while. I did roll my eyes when some blood got on the lens; we should be past that fourth-wall-breaking error/gimmick by now.
I am not at all surprised that Gibson deviated heavily from the truth, a pattern found in Braveheart, The Patriot, and Apocalypto. Interestingly, one deviation -- disregarding a major injury for Desmond -- was to make the story more credible. At least it doesn't feel like propaganda the way American Sniper does. Even the Japanese don't look so bad by the time Desmond starts saving them.
My review may sound fairly harsh, but I dig the movie overall. It's just so heartwarming to have a nonviolent, basically undisputed hero. Whatever you think of his religion and politics, he's a strong man of principle out to benefit as many people as possible.
I'm glad HR won a couple of technical Oscars. I just have to be careful whom I recommend it to.
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