On November 4, 2016 a fantastic movie directed by Mel Gibson was released to the public in theaters called Hacksaw Ridge. It is a fascinating and action-packed film that is well worth watching.

Hacksaw Ridge is about a Christian man from Virginia who becomes an Army medic who later receives the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. The main character, played by Andrew Garfield, is Pfc. Desmond T. Doss, who refused to bear arms during WWII due to his religious beliefs. I can understand Doss’ refusal, because I think that there should be no reason for killing someone; however, if you are in any branch of our armed forces, I believe that then it can be justified because that is your job to protect people.

Although this movie has been out for almost half a year now, I highly recommend it to everyone because it is is based on a true story and covers a pivotal moment in history, and overall, it was just a really good movie.

When Doss first arrived to boot camp, his fellow soldiers and sergeant informed him that a man who won’t carry a gun is a coward, unmanly, and very unfit to serve.

However, during and after the war, Doss went on to earn tons of respect for his bravery, selflessness, and compassion after he risked his life without firing a single shot, all while saving 75 lives in the Battle of Okinawa.

The best part of this film would definitely have to be when the Japanese started taking control of the battle, but Doss didn’t give up carrying wounded soldiers back to base. The Japanese started walking around the battleground shooting dead Americans to make sure they were actually dead.

Doss risked his own life by saving many wounded soldiers by carrying them back to base. He had to think quickly on how to save his own life from the Japanese. Eventually, he decided to put a dead body over his so it looked like he was dead.

After the Japanese passed Doss, that didn’t stop him from continuing to save lives. This shows all the viewers his determination to save his fellow soldiers. This scene was filled with a lot of emotion, which made me and probably many others consider it to be the best part of the movie.

To be honest, I thought that the beginning of the movie was pretty boring because it was so slow getting the main point of Doss getting stationed at Hacksaw Ridge as a combat medic to save lives while not possessing a weapon.

Before the war scenes started happening, I thought that the rest of the movie was going to be just as boring as the beginning because it couldn’t hold my attention for more than five minutes at a time; however, when the fighting started to take place the movie got way better.

Overall, I thought the content of this movie was really good even though they could have changed the beginning a little to make it more compelling. The war scenes were amazing, all while capturing a great amount of emotion, because it helped show what the soldiers were going through and how terrible the battle actually was. If I had to rate this movie, I would give it an A.

This movie, which is rated R, is now no longer in theaters, but it can be easily found on Amazon Prime, Redbox, Netflix, and also on demand. I would highly recommend Hacksaw Ridge to anyone who likes intense and violent movies filled with a lot of emotion.