Mel Gibson Returns To Directing With 'Hacksaw Ridge'

Mel Gibson returns to directing with the remarkable true story of pacifist hero Desmond T. Doss.

What a great story to tell – in the worst place on Earth,” says Mel Gibson, talking about Hacksaw Ridge, his much-anticipated return to the director’s chair. The “worst place on Earth” is the Japanese island of Okinawa, circa 1945, as American troops attempted to gain a foothold in one of World War 2’s most brutal and bloody arenas. In particular, scaling Hacksaw Ridge – the jagged escarpment where Japanese forces repelled US soldiers.

Yet Hacksaw Ridge is no ordinary blood ’n’ guts war movie. It’s the true story of inspirational pacifist Desmond T. Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist who refused to bear arms but remained desperate to serve his country as a medic in the US military. Going into battle without a weapon, he saved 75 lives from Hacksaw Ridge, pulling injured men across the fire-strewn terrain and lowering them, one by one, to safety.

The first-ever conscientious objector in America to win the Medal of Honor, “What Desmond did was totally super-human,” says Andrew Garfield, who plays Doss (and knows a thing or two about super heroes, post Spider-Man). “The closest thing I can compare it to is when you see mothers lifting trucks off a trapped child. He was filled with something that gave him the necessary strength.”

Gibson similarly marvels at the bravery of Doss, who died in 2006 aged 87. “I look at a guy like Desmond and it boggles my mind that someone can have such a strong faith to walk into the gunfire and put his life on the line, and to do it for his fellow man – it’s a perfect act of love. I’m inspired by that. Who isn’t inspired by that?”