Typology Analysis Essay: Hacksaw Ridge Film

Typology Analysis Essay: Hacksaw Ridge Film

The Hacksaw Ridge film opens with war, where the US army dies in a massacre. Desmond’s father, Doss loses three close buddies and almost loses his sanity. Desmond joins the military as a medic, who refuses to handle the rifle. The team goes to a war, which seems more political, and they are supposed to replace others who, before them, seem to have undergone a massacre. Doss’s battalion faces wrath, and the killings and injuries are too much. The courageous medic, determined to save lives rather than take them, tries his best to keep as many team members as possible. When the battalion is ordered to retreat, Desmond feels obliged to save more of his fallen comrades single-handedly. He courageously moves around, risking his life trying to save every person alive from his battalion (Scott, 2016). The place looks bloody, and the battalion and the enemy have lost countless lives, but none seems to retreat. The movie is full of blood and tries to show how bad war can be, and its impacts cannot be reversed. It shows that with war and bloodshed, both parties do not gain anything, rather than lose lives that would be saved. According to the film, most military fights are politically based, making ending them hard.

Political wars, which are always between nations, happen between nations of different races and religions. The religious aspect of the film intends to show this view. The US army is fighting with the Japanese soldiers. The US army still fights with Muslim-dominated nations, such as through the Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Somalia wars. These wars are always political, for different end gains, and religious due to the different perspectives. The results are always catastrophic, and the defeated parties experience catastrophic political losses. For instance, the current war between Ukraine and Russia has weakened both nations politically. People cannot trust their leaders anymore as they are sacrificed to end the war’s anticipated political gains.

The movie brings out the religious freedom debate. The political viewpoint of a nation seems to be more controlled by the nation’s laws and way of doing things, and politically people who belong to different religions might be disregarded or even their beliefs viewed as stupid. In the case of Desmond, his superiors did not want to understand his view even when he tried to explain that he was not interested in pouring blood or holding a rifle but only in saving lives. According to the main character, Desmond, his Christian values did not allow him to take away a life, as not killing was the greatest command. With his childhood experience when he almost killed his brother and how he experienced when his father almost killed his mother, the medic was sure that he did not ever want to hold a rifle or shoot to kill any human. Nevertheless, the superiors locked him in and took him for trial because he refused to hold a rifle and learn how to shoot. His Christian values as an Adventist were disregarded and led him to problems. His fellow soldiers and superiors saw him as a stupid person who did not have substantial reasons for his stand. At one point, Desmond is attacked and badly beaten in his sleep, as his fellow are angry for taking the punishment for his stand (Gibson, 2016, 45:15). This shows how societies end up fighting one another because their religious views are contrary. The societies have had endless wars whose motives are religious differences. From the above explanation, the US must balance religious liberty with nondiscrimination protections. 

Politics has denied people the choice to remain who they are. This happens in the religious view and even in people’s beliefs. For instance, the nation has long denied people the right to the contentious objector. In the movie, Desmond joined the army as a volunteer and was okay with the training, raising the flag, and wearing his uniform while going to war as a medic. He only had his requirement not to touch or use a rifle, and he believed that he should not take a life. He did not believe in killing, and his conscience was unclear. His superiors criticized him, forced him to follow their rules, and even incited others against him, telling them that he would probably be fighting with his conscience in the field when required to kill to save one of them (Gibson, 2016,39:11). Everybody judged him wrongly, and this is a common thing felt in the US. People still face difficulties in the US military due to conscientious objection (Ramadhan & Ambalegin, 2022). Unsuccessful claimants are still undergoing jailing in the US. This implies that it has yet to succeed even after a long period of trying to incorporate the conscientious objection law. 

Judging people by how they look or talk has remained a great reason behind the racism and stereotyping in the nation. The movie proves this by how the seniors address the different races with some stereotyping. For instance, sergeant Houwell tells Walker, Ghoul that he looks different and seems to have been dead (Gibson, 2016, 30:18). By the looks, he tells Private Kirzinski that he looks Indian. In the field, the sergeant tells one trainee that he would be about taller if he was American (Gibson, 2016, 34:25). Even though it is just normal talk in military training, the mentioning of races and definition by looks depicts the larger society, and how people are looked at and categorized depending on their looks and races. The nation has faced unending discrimination against people’s looks and other stereotypes. 

The film shows the dedication of the soldiers from both sides. When the movie started, it was clear that most men felt obliged to join the military and fight for their country. As Desmond said, some who could not join even committed suicide due to the painful thoughts that they could not join the military. Desmond’s girlfriend and others were happy seeing their boyfriends, brothers, and sons going to serve their nation (Gibson, 2016, 26:45). The soldiers were all willing to give their lives for their lands to win. The deaths experienced by both ends are evidence of the willingness of parties to die. The soldiers are all patriotic to their nations. They follow the commands to fight to their last breaths and take their flag home high. The militants’ patriotism is also evidenced by Desmond, the film’s main character, who was willing to sacrifice his life to save his colleagues. He kept saying one more and saved 78 fellow soldiers until he could not do it anymore (Clement, Nd). The war shows how he also hit the grenades back in the last hours of fighting, saving his fellow soldiers, ready to die for them (Gibson, 2016, 2:05:15). He ends up hurt even though he is salvaged. This kind of military patriotism depicted by all fighting soldiers in the film shows how soldiers stand with their nations to protect their political desires. 

According to the film, heroism is not killing but saving lives and maintaining peace. Doss was not interested in carrying a rifle or killing anyone but in trying to fulfill his life purpose of saving lives. In a world torn apart by war, heroes are defined by their ability to vanquish enemies and marshall violence for political gains and well-being (Ramadhan & Ambalegin, 2022). However, the film is about different heroism, a hero depicted as a person willing to save lives and keep the peace without having to fight. In a culture so full of war, a person who can be described as full of love and peace tries to maintain peace through other ways than killing and fighting (Ramadhan, 2021). Political fights are highly discouraged.

According to the movie, war happens because two parties do not want to low their pride and talk things out. In the war in the film, the two fighting parties were all led by anger and determination to win. The determination to win for their country led to the shedding of blood mercilessly. Both parties have lost soldiers, but none will surrender, allowing peace to prevail. Even when the other group is overpowered, they do not want to surrender, rather prank them into surrendering only to attack (Gibson, 2016,2:04.58). As a result, they end up dead and defeated. Once their leader realizes that they have been defeated, he wants to be beheaded and commits suicide before then. He cannot take the shame that they lost the war and is willing to die rather than surrender. Most politically arranged wars see the fighting nations unwilling to hold negotiations but only willing to put the lives of their soldiers at stake by sending them to war. Any nation that decides to negotiate or surrender and end the war is deemed weak, losing some of its privileges or soldiers, who are taken as captives. However, peace is the best and can be attained without a fight. In such a situation, negotiations between the fighting nations to develop peaceful solutions is the only best step, protecting the lives of many, property, and resources. War is not good, and nations should not subject their soldiers to it if other existing avenues exist to attain peace. 

References

Clement, N. (Nd). Hacksaw Ridge Review. https://www.backtothemovies.com/hacksaw-ridge-review/#:~:text=Mel%20Gibson’s%20unsurprisingly%20savage%20WWII,he%20did%20in%20real%20life.

Gibson, M. (2016). Hacksaw Ridge. Lionsgate.

Ramadhan, A. P., & Ambalegin, A. (2022). Assertive Act Found in Desmond Doss’s Conversation on “Hacksaw Ridge” Movie by Mel Gibson. Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature, 8(2), 237-248, https://doi.org/10.30812/humanitatis.v8i2.1692

Ramadhan, R. F. F. (2021). Heroic paradox in Hacksaw Ridge Movie (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung), http://digilib.uinsgd.ac.id/id/eprint/42259

Scott, A. O. (Nov, 1, 2016). Review: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Has the Guts and the Glory. But Where’s the Gun? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/02/movies/hacksaw-ridge-review-andrew-garfield-mel-gibson.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHacksaw%20Ridge%E2%80%9D%20is%20a%20bluntly,of%20the%20thrills%20of%20battle