Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge' Centers on a Single Powerful Line

Despite courting controversy 20 years ago, Mel Gibson delivered one of the most inspiring war films of the past decade with Hacksaw Ridge. Based on the true story of U.S. Army Corporal Desmond Doss, the film trades Gibson’s trademark violence for a focused portrait of pacifism, anchored by Andrew Garfield’s Oscar-nominated performance.

Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist, refused to carry a weapon when he enlisted in 1942 and served as a medic in the 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. During the Battle of Okinawa he climbed the Maeda Escarpment by ladder to rescue wounded men, saving between 50 and 100 soldiers without firing a single bullet.

Facing a military court over his beliefs, Doss makes a simple, uncompromising declaration: "While everybody else is taking life, I'm going to be saving it.

United States, Okinawa

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