Times change and the world changes but, in certain cases, nothing really changes. And this just may relate to the content of a film that has come to theaters this fall, and which offers a heartfelt ode to the American soldier in World War II. The film in question is HACKSAW RIDGE, directed by Mel Gibson, the fact-based tale of Desmond Doss, played by Andrew Garfield: a U.S. Army medic and conscientious objector who earned the Medal of Honor for his derring-do during World War II’s Battle of Okinawa.
HACKSAW RIDGE is a film that oozes patriotism, as it very well should. But it is reminiscent of an earlier era, in which real American heroes of World Wars I and II were celebrated onscreen. Both wars were not controversial and, in each, the U.S. emerged victorious. So the life and heroism of Alvin York, one of the most decorated American soldiers during World War I, were spotlighted in SERGEANT YORK, released in 1941. Gary Cooper, one of the era’s enduring stars, won a Best Actor Oscar playing Alvin York. And if you get to see it, you easily might observe that the film works as a recruiting poster for America’s then-inevitable entry into the Second World War.
As for that new war, Audie Murphy-- one of its most honored GIs-- got to play himself in TO HELL AND BACK, from 1955. TO HELL AND BACK is based on Murphy’s 1949 memoir. Plus, his bravado even resulted in his becoming a movie star, with Murphy appearing in over forty films released between 1948 and 1969.
However, if you exclude the state-of-the-art special effects that allow for the graphic violence in the HACKSAW RIDGE battle scenes-- effects that are missing from SERGEANT YORK and TO HELL AND BACK-- this new film easily might have been made in the late 1940s or 1950s.
Now of course, Vietnam was a war that was controversial, and which America lost-- and I can cite countless films which depict Vietnam as a mismanaged misadventure, a horror show come to life. Plus, I can cite countless films in which Vietnam veterans are depicted as little more than alienated basket cases or downright villains. And as for the various recent films which underscore America’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, they more often than not focus on these wars’ folly. Or, they center on GIs whose lives are inexorably wrecked by their battle experiences combined with their endless redeployments. The latest is Ang Lee’s BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, a film that is very 21st century in that it stresses the marketability of combat and patriotism in our media-obsessed age, rather than the genuine heroism depicted in HACKSAW RIDGE.
Let me add here that the saga of Desmond Doss in HACKSAW RIDGE led me to take a look at John Junkerman’s OKINAWA: THE AFTERBURN, a First Run Features documentary that recently was released to home entertainment. Its focus may be on the controversial presence of the American military bases that for years have populated Okinawa. However, with HACKSAW RIDGE in mind, what really struck me were the interviews with the now-elderly survivors of the battle: individuals whose lives, in some cases, may have been snuffed out had it not been for the derring-do of Desmond Doss.
The interviewees in OKINAWA: THE AFTERBURN are Japanese and Okinawans as well as Americans. And their collective memories of what happened during this long, bloody battle remain vivid and chilling seventy-plus years later.
Rob Edelman has authored or edited several dozen books on film, television, and baseball. He has taught film history courses at several universities and his writing has appeared in many newspapers, magazines, and journals. His frequent collaborator is his wife, fellow WAMC film commentator Audrey Kupferberg.
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