I told you guys on twitter that I have been watching this spectacular movie called “Hacksaw Ridge (2016)”, directed by Mel Gibson with Andrew Garfield in the leading role as Desmond Doss. So, what is Hacksaw Ridge about?
It is a true story of this guy named Desmond Doss who very early on in life, due to his Christian beliefs, decided to never partake in violence, especially murder. During WW2, men are getting themselves enlisted in the army to serve their country. In the movie specifically, the time post pearl harbor is depicted. So our boy Desmond decides to get himself enlisted, but as a combat medic instead of a normal soldier. He decides never to hold a rifle in his life. You can imagine that this would not sit nicely with other people in the army who want their soldiers to agree to their orders.
The first part of the movie shows Doss’ struggle to get accepted as a combat medic while in the army, while everyone is against him, including his commander, his sergeant, as well as his comrades.
I believe in emotional healing through movies. The reason being, a good movie can help you understand the situation of a character and make it easy to empathize by visually depicting his conditions. And this was a good movie for sure. Many things in this movie caught me off-guard and made me think:
Irrespective of whether you agree with the principles of Doss or not, you have to agree that he has principles and he knows how to fight for them no matter what consequences he has to face. A boy with principles, that he can fight to protect is a real man. It is important to learn to how to stay true to yourself, and more importantly, WHY to stay true to yourself:
“But I don’t know how I’m going to live with myself if I don’t stay true to what I believe.”
“You think you are better than us”, heard every guy who tried to do something others could not do. It is a common method of putting those people down who stand up for their ideals, ideals that might be too big to uphold for other people.
There are always those people who are just mean and who can’t empathize. There were scenes that made my blood boil. Mostly the scenes in which other people tried their best to break Desmond’s resolve, put him down and create hurdles for him. The problem with this is, and this happens in every movie, that there are people who create hurdles and try to break other people. We call them villains, or negative roles / characters. That is the label that we put on them. We forget that before all these labels, the first label that they have is of a human. They are human just like us.
And we forget that humans like that exist everywhere around us. What makes my blood boil is that how can some people stoop so low and still call themselves humans? These scenes hit home because I experienced something like this during my initial days at the university. Obviously not as brutal as the ones shown in the movie, but of similar nature. There were some principles of mine I was not willing to back down for, and I faced quite some resistance because of that from my seniors, and my batch-mates as well. That is why, these scenes struck a nerve.
When the world does not support you or accept you, the acceptance and support of your family and your loved ones can mean the world and their doubt can cause you to break.
You can support someone without truly understanding them. This comes from how Doss’ soon-to-be-wife supports him while not completely agreeing to what he says. She knows he is right but thinks that he may have taken a slightly wrong path, but she still shows support by telling him that she is standing by his side no matter what he chooses to do. I don’t think I have completely understood this concept. It will stay with me for some time and I hope I am able to fully grasp the depth of this.
When you have no idea how to solve a problem, that is when you have to stop trying to solve it and just believe that it will be solved for you because you will not turn back no matter what. Then the fate conspires, and it conspires well.
You have to put your money where your mouth is. Desmond did not only tell everyone what his ideals were but also, when he was tested, he was able to stay true to them. When he entered the war, he did not get scared. He jumped right in like the combat medic he was supposed to be and did some pretty heroic stuff.
Always keep your conscience alive and maintain your ability to listen to your inner voice. It is when people lose the ability to listen to their conscience that they truly become hollow from the inside.
It does not matter whether it is a war, a skirmish, a debate, or a simple argument, whatever the situation might be, one must never lose his or her humanity. Feeling empathy and being kind is what makes us humans. Feeling and understanding others pain is what makes us human.
It is true that sometimes, despite of empathizing, difficult decisions are to be made, but it is this acknowledgement of others situation and pain that makes us stay true to our purpose. Otherwise, people do what they do for no purpose at all. Actions without consciousness of purpose makes us mindless human beings. We may get confused, but we shall never be mindless.
One last thing that I would like to mention is this. In my last diary entry, I mentioned something about soldiers. You can take a look at what I said here. At that time, I hadn’t watched hacksaw ridge, nor had I watched any other war movie recently or even in a long time. I said that we can only plan so much. In the end we have to jump in and believe that we will be successful.
I said that in a war, for every person, every bullet that goes by, could have gone through. It is fate that keeps people alive. After I said that, I saw the proof of what I said in this movie. I mean, you can clearly see that there is no definite way to protect yourself from the enemies’ line of fire. People are getting shot everywhere and there are people who might be just charging in and not get hit by a single flying bullet.
This movie was a spectacle.
I tried to keep this diary entry without any spoilers.
Writing all this stuff down will help you just as it is helping me. What can I learn from a war movie like this? Writing down these points has organized many thoughts of mine that I should think more about and try to understand. It will keep them fresh in my mind and allow me to consciously or subconsciously ponder over them. These are the benefits of writing your thoughts down. Reflective journaling may sound cliché but it is a very powerful tool.
Oh, and one more thing, Andrew Garfield man. Amazing guy. His acting is good alright, but I don’t know what it is about that guy that just attracts everyone towards him. His portrayal of Spiderman, his normal interviews, just the way he carries himself. There is nothing to not like about him. A fine gentleman indeed and an amazing actor.
You can learn more about Desmond Doss on this page.
“War would end if the dead could return.”
Have you seeen Hacksaw Bridge? What did you like or hate about the movie?
What have to say about my man Andrew?
Are you a person who has principle or ideals to live by? And how far can you go for them?
Which of the lessons that I took from the movie do you agree with? I would love to hear where you disagree with me as well.
Do you like war movies? If you do please please recommend me some good ones. I want to watch more.
I have started watching Saving Private Ryan. Do you think I will like it? I will watch The Green Mile after that.
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