The film Hacksaw Ridge follows the inspiring true story of Desmond Doss in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. The highly praised film won an Academy Award as well multiple AACTA, Satellite, Critics Choice, and BAFTA awards. Although the film is based on a true story, many viewers question its accuracy. Viewers find it hard to believe that one man not only survived extremely dangerous war conditions without the use of a gun, but also risked his life over and over in order to save fellow comrades. Despite the thoughts and accusations of many, the film is almost completely historically accurate. However, as with every movie based on a true story, the director of Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson, made a few minor changes in order to increase believability as well as add a hint of dramatics. Though the film contains changes to the story, none of them significantly changed the plot line and nothing can take away the jaw-dropping effects of Desmond Doss’ story. Nevertheless, no one can deny the fact of the matter; Desmond Doss is a true American Hero. …show more content…
His faith remained unwavering even after the most challenging temptation, defending himself and his fellow comrades. He never believed in the use of violence or guns as he was very motivated by the 6th commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” He used this verse as a way of life and swore to never touch a gun or ever issue any harm on another person (Lang). Doss sought to heal as much as possible during his life time, and he truly felt that was God’s will for his life. Viewers are inspired by Doss as his story unravels in the following
Most war stories are labeled as fiction or nonfiction; however Tim O’Brien breaks this rule in The Things They Carried by creating a fictitious story that yet seeps the truth, and labelling it as a work of fiction. The book is compiled of various stories that correlate together, but it can be unclear what is fact and what is fiction. O’Brien purposely does this to draw in the reader to question what is and what isn’t, and no one exactly knows the right answer. By utilizing intentional, rhetorical tactics, O’Brien has the power of blurring the lines between fact and fiction; which allows the reader to distinguish between fact and fiction in chapters, such as “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, “Stockings”, and “Speaking of Courage”.
Claims are made throughout the entire documentary by various people surrounding sexual assault in the military. The United States military works around hidden corners to avoid having a bad reputation due to assault or rape, was the first claim made. This is revealed by victims willing to share their stories. They were all told to “stop crying and realize that they brought this onto themselves”by their commanders. Therefore, his gives insight into the larger picture because the commander did not stop the sexual assault nor did they receive empathy after surviving a life changing event.
“But the strain I am under, the uncertainty, the hunger, the danger, these hours with the dead man have made me desperate…” Truth is the information and ideas that matter. Although war cannot be generalized, truth is a generalization of the feelings, lessons, and effects of an event. If someone was not present for an event, and they’re not going to ever witness it through a video, then the details of a story don’t matter. Only the lasting feelings and thoughts matter. In O’Brien’s piece, he talks about a man named Mitchell Sanders telling a story of 6 soldiers in the mountain.
This story is a success because it features components of what O’Brien says is a true war story. This certain short story includes, embarrassment, love, memory, and, shame. This story perfectly depicts the theme of one's conscience versus the society around them. It portrays this theme because it is the perfect example of the fight between what he believe is right and what society believes is wrong and is “unpatriotic” while what he believes is wrong and unworthy of such violence, yet society believes is right. According to O’Brien, in order for war stories to be true they must possess at least some of the elements from his specific definition.
In Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carried,” a fictional novel about an American platoon during the Vietnam War, O’Brien insists that the book and stories being told are real, only to contradict himself after a few pages. I believe O’Brien does not do this because he is an eccentric writer, but because he is trying to make us believe that these fictional characters’ deaths and hardships are real, in order to convey a message about how there is beauty in death. While reading through the stories it is often difficult to separate what is fictitious, and what is true. Throughout the novel we seem to find two different “truths”, which are “story truth” and “happening truth”. O’Brien uses war related imagery to demonstrate the power of storytelling by describing the brutal realities of death and how soldiers meet it and deal with it.
In the novel we learn that the true purpose of his anecdotes is not to derive a moral lesson or to be factually accurate, but to connection his personal emotions toward the war to the readers. American film critic
The influence of Hollywood can be seen increasing or decreasing the public’s perception of a person, group, or cause in the matter of moments. John Wayne is one that can be argued to have had am extremely large impact on the creation/influence of war films through personal views. In Allan Dwan’s film Sands of Iwo Jima, the most expensive film to date, he we give John Wayne the nod for the lead role of Sergeant Srkyer, whose job was to lead a group of inexperienced Marines into Iwo Jima. This would be Wayne’s first Academy Award nomination, thus solidifying his emerging influence in Hollywood. Though John Wayne had no military experience whatsoever, his political beliefs, and his portrayal of an American within his films helped him gain support from high national figures.
In the film American Sniper directed by Clint Eastwood and the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, both works exhibit depiction of war through the protagonist. However, each work is portrayed differently as they each show a representation with opposite depiction of war. While one decides to promote war, the other diminish it. In Eastwood’s adaptation of American Sniper, his insight appears as a promotion for pro-war propaganda, in contrast, Slaughterhouse Five depicts ideas that portray the war in a poor light. American Sniper retells the story of Chris Kyle, a Navy Seal who was reported to have 160 confirmed kills.
The movie overall effectively conveys the ruthless nature of war and wartime sexual violence by presenting numerous
Real heros Among all mankind, those who are strong, upright, brave and merciful are heroes. A boy called Flaming likes Desmond Thomas Doss best. In his eyes,Desmond Thomas Doss is his hero. Desmond Thomas Doss was born in lynchburg, va.
If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie” (O’Brien 65). O’Brien continues that when hearing a true war story it can be very difficult to separate the truth from the lies of the story, this is simply because the war is so unpredictable and horrendous it has the ability to make some seemingly impossible events a reality. Everything that goes on in a war a true war story will live the listener speechless, despite all the unbelievable events that may have taken place on the battlefield because “you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat” (O’Brien 77). In conclusion, Tim O’Brien states that a true war story will not leave anything out no matter how grotesque the truth may be, also a true war story makes it nearly impossible to distinguish fact from fiction as “war is hell, but that’s not the half of it” (O’Brien 76). The tell-tale sign of a true war story is
He tried escaping prison for something he is innocent for and in return gets shot Seventeen times. Most of these people's beliefs have been passed down, and learned a certain way, so that is how it also relates to that
Telling a true war story can be hard to do, because soldiers are tempted to change some traumatic aspects to make the story easier to comprehend, and not so traumatic for the listener. For the readers who prefer the brutal and gruesome stories,
All in all, the movie Hacksaw Ridge is very accurate to the real life events that took place in 1945. The movies gives an accurate portrayal of the main characters, the setting, and what went on during World War II at Hacksaw Ridge. Overall amount of deaths throughout this battle is estimated at around 160,000 people. In the end, The U.S. defeated the Japanese at the battle of Hacksaw Ridge on the island of
“Hacksaw Ridge”: the Film Review Hacksaw Ridge is a war drama based on documentary materials; it was directed by Mel Gibson and first demonstrated in 2016. The film tells story of Desmond Doss, a man with difficult fate. The character does not want to interact with weapons because of his faith and negative previous family experience, like an assault on his brother with a brick or an attempted assassination of own father, which hit his wife, Desmond’s mother. But Doss decided to join the army despite of his believes; the main part of plot happened in Japan in 1945. His refusal of weapons’ usage created contentious relationship with officers and fellow soldier; Doss even fell for tribunal, but was saved by his father, who participated in the Great War.