Mel Gibson’s New Movie “Hacksaw Ridge” Gets 10-minute Standing Ovation at Premier

Still from trailer below
Still from trailer below

Mel Gibson’s new movie Hacksaw Ridge is a movie about WWII. It received a 10-minute standing ovation in Venice this weekend. About six minutes into the Ovation, Gibson and cast members went into the audience to greet people.

The cast members there were Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, Teresa Palmer, and Luke Bracey.

Those familiar with the story of Doss are hoping Hollywood keeps the cinematic embellishments to a minimum for his is a story which actually needs none.

Refusing to touch a weapon due to his religious beliefs, Doss volunteered for service during the greatest war the world had ever seen.  After much opposition, he eventually found his way to combat as a medic.  The 80 plus men he saved were very likely extremely pleased he never picked up a weapon.

For nearly a month on Okinawa, Doss simply could not be stopped from saving his men. Anything from a 400-foot escarpment, grenades, mortars, machine gun fire, and significant wounds to himself.

Desmond Doss was there for a reason, and that reason will give us what we hope is one of the greatest Hollywood accounts of inexplicable gallantry.  Here is the true story of Desmond Doss on Okinawa.

“While everybody else is taking life, I’m going to be saving it,” Doss (Garfield) says in the trailer, giving a passionate defense of his stance that eventually wins over his officers.

Gibson’s career has been a remarkably turbulent one. When asked to describe his relationship with Hollywood, he summed it up in one word: ‘survival.’

Hacksaw Ridge could simply be presented as a war film, but Gibson said during an interview with Louise Dupont of France 24 that it was, in fact, actually meant to be an anti-war movie.

“Most war movies are against the war, but we must be sympathetic to our fighters,” Gibson explained. When he was a kid, he moved to Australia, missing the draft that would have sent him to Vietnam at age 18. By that time, however, the war had ended. He was 17.

Gibson, who is also recognizable for his depiction of Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace in the 20-year-old film Braveheart, said even though he detests war, he is very fond of heroism and courage represented by combatants,

Check out the trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g5mQ69ROvo

Ian Harvey

Ian Harvey is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE