Finally had the bandwidth to sit down, without distractions, and watch Hacksaw Ridge on Amazon Prime Video for the first time. Wow, what an incredible movie! The movie is Mel Gibson’s re-telling of the true story of Private Desmond T. Doss, an Army medic in WWII (Andrew Garfield) who served during the Battle of Okinawa without carrying a rifle into battle.

Spoiler Alert

Before the epic battle scenes, we get a glimpse into Doss’s life where he experiences the destructive nature of violence as a child which become the building blocks to his steadfast belief. Still, because his brother and other boys in town enlist in the war effort, Doss does the same — much to the dismay of his new girlfriend Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) and his veteran father (Hugo Weaving).

Doss excels in boot camp, outperforming most of the other men, but standing his ground in refusing to handle a rifle causes tension with his peers, Army leadership and his drill sergeant (Vince Vaughn). Taking this position puts his future in the Army at the mercy of a court martial. His entire unit questions if he can serve his country and have their backs without carrying rifle into battle until he more than proves himself when his company confronts the Japanese in the Pacific theater.

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