History Film / HacksawRidge

* DoesntLikeGuns: Desmond's become allergic to guns as a result of his traumatic confrontation with his dad when trying to protect his mom.

* HiddenDepths: Captain Glover comes across, in his own words, as a "hardass who only cares about rules and regulations" but reveals to Desmond that he is also a devout Christian who struggles to reconcile his faith with his duty as a soldier. He even seems to respect Desmond's beliefs, just feeling they're not compatible with being a soldier.

* HumbleHero: Doss never thinks of himself as anything more than a regular soldier and medic just trying to do his duty. As the epilogue shows, this was very much truth in television as the real Doss would dismiss any claims that he was a hero by saying the real heroes were the ones who had given their lives in combat.

** Smitty. He acts quite assholish to Desmond because of the latter's nonviolent beliefs, even smacking him with his bible. He was also ''[[EverybodyHasStandards against]]'' another group of men for beating up Doss for the reason. And later on, he proves to be quite brave and selfless in battle, and even admits that he can be an asshole.

** Captain Glover works with Howell to try and force Desmond out but he has a moment of private connection with him where he speaks about his own faith and pleads with Doss to simply leave before he is dishonorably discharged. He also cares deeply for the men under his watch and tells Desmond he was wrong and asks his forgiveness after he sees how bravely he served in rescuing other soldiers.

** Smitty offers one of his cigarettes to one of the soldiers who has been at Hacksaw Ridge longer and is traumatized by it.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: During the basic training scenes, none of the recruits have shaved heads, which is the standard for recruits going through boot camp. Given the hard work Gibson put in to make certain the film was as historically accurate as possible, this is very puzzling.

* IconicLogo: Subtly done. The movie poster, the DVD cover, and the title screen of the film itself all include a very tasteful [[UsefulNotes/TheRedCross Red Cross]]. Ironic in that almost the first thing that Doss is told when he arrives at Okinawa is to lose his.

** Possibly justified as an AcceptableBreakFromReality since viewers might find it harder to tell individual characters apart if they were all young(ish) bald white men.

* AdultFear:
** Desmond's parents get a heavy dose of this in the beginning when Desmond and Hal get into a fight ending with the former knocking the latter unconscious with a brick. Hal thankfully survives, but Desmond and his mother are aware that Desmond could've killed him.
** Tom Doss faces his when both his boys enlist in WWII. He is terrified they will be killed and, though he doesn't say so, equally terrified that they will survive and end up [[ShellShockedVeteran like him.]]

* EverybodyHasStandards: Smitty and Howell, two of Desmond's most vocal critics, aren't particularly impressed when Desmond's squadmates start beating on him, and Smitty actually sticks up for him. Howell even seems genuinely (but subtly) aghast when he sees Desmond's face in the morning, and sympathetically tries to convince Desmond to quit and go home for his own safety.

* OneManArmy: Several of Desmond's fellow soldiers, as the battle rages on, but Sergeant Howell and Smitty stand out.

** Howell is just a guy [[DrillSergeantNasty doing his job]] [[JerkassHasAPoint who doesn't think a guy who doesn't want to even touch a gun should be allowed into a combat zone where other soldiers will be forced to rely on him.]] He comes to respect Doss after he takes a vicious beating from his squadmates but still refuses to quit.

* EverybodyHasStandards: Smitty and Howell, two of Desmond's most vocal critics, aren't particularly impressed when Desmond's squadmates start beating on him, and Smitty actually sticks up for him. Howell even seems genuinely (but subtly) aghast when he sees Desmond's face in the morning.

** Possibly justified as an [[AcceptableBreaksfromReality Acceptable Break from Reality]], since viewers might find it harder to tell individual characters apart if they were all young(ish) bald white men.

** From a practical perspective, Doss’ refusal to carry a weapon does nothing to impede him in carrying out his duty as TheMedic, and several scenes make it abundantly clear that if it weren’t for his armed comrades he would have died on Hacksaw Ridge. His rescue of Sergeant Howell is the clearest example of this: Howell kills a sniper that nearly blew Doss’ head off and kept him from getting to the sergeant, then provides essential covering fire while Doss hauls him to the cliff, killing several Japanese soldiers that would otherwise have shot Doss in the back.

** Also invoked by Thomas Doss when Desmond’s brother, who has just enlisted, wears his uniform to the dinner table. Their father is quite disturbed, then tells his older son that he should hope to be shot in the chest, "A nice, clean entry wound," before telling them of one of the friends he lost in the last war, a handsome fellow who attracted plenty of girls in his Army greens, only to be killed by shrapnel that entered his back and exited the front, “Spilled his insides everywhere, ruined his uniform!” The elder Doss, now sobbing uncontrollably, tells his sons to get out of his sight.

The film is set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and BasedOnATrueStory, that of private Desmond Thomas Doss (Garfield), a [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Seventh-day Adventist]] conscientious objector who refused to bear arms and became a combat medic. He ended up awarded the Medal of Honor by President UsefulNotes/HarryTruman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his comrades while under constant enemy fire during the [[WorldWarII/WarInAsiaAndThePacific Battle of Okinawa]].

* AbusiveParents: Desmond's father, a veteran of the first World War, is a physically abusive alcoholic, though the movie goes to lengths to humanize him despite his faults ([[RealitySubtext Mel Gibson himself has problems with alcohol]]). It is shown quite plainly that he does love his sons and wife, but his experiences in the horror that was the Great War and his subsequent alcoholism have turned him into the person he is. It also helps that he [[spoiler:saves Desmond from being court-martialed by presenting a letter from the Brigadier General.]]

** Doss' shower after his long night on Hacksaw Ridge looks like a bucket of water baptizing him, as water and blood flow down, the same as flowed out of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} on the cross.

* {{Adorkable}}: Desmond Doss. Just look at his first interactions with Dorothy in the hospital.

** [[spoiler: After being injured and taken off the battlefield, Doss actually rolled off the stretcher when he noticed a man more injured than him and demanded they take him instead. While they were gone, he was shot by a sniper, shattering his left arm, and he crawled 300 yards by himself in the hellfire of battle to safety.]] This was omitted because Gibson feared that nobody would believe that had happened.

* HelloNurse: Dorthy is a nurse played by the gorgeous Teresa Palmer.

* {{Determinator}}: Doss was resolved to save as many lives as he could, even if there's just a remote chance of helping them, until he either collapsed or died trying.

* DomesticAbuser: Desmond's father would sometimes be physically abusive to Desmond's mother.

** Thomas Doss is an alcoholic AbusiveDad and a DomesticAbuser, but sincerely loves his sons and wife and hates himself for his horrible treatment of them.

* AFatherToHisMen: While they initially had doubts about Desmond joining, DrillSergeantNasty Howell and Glover are both caring towards his men under their command whilst on the battlefield and they were worried that Desmond's refusal to bear arms could mean the deaths of brothers-in-arms around him if he's not armed to defend himself and others in need, something that both of them brought up when Howell orders his platoon not to rely on Desmond to help them and Glover also telling him what would happen if Desmond on the battlefield had no weapon to protect himself and a wounded comrade. However, both superiors eventually warmed over and respected Desmond for being a BadassPacifist and how he did managed to save many of his brothers-in-arms despite being unarmed himself.

* AFatherToHisMen: While they initially had doubts about Desmond joining, DrillSergeantNasty Howell and Glover are both caring towards his men under their command whilst on the battlefield and they were worried that Desmond's refusal to bear arms could mean the deaths of brothers-in-arms around him if he's not armed to defend himself and others in need, something that both of them brought up when Howell orders his platoon not to rely on Desmond to help and Glover also telling him what would happen if Desmond on the battlefield had not weapon to protect himself and a wounded comrade. However, both superiors eventually warmed over and respected Desmond for being a BadassPacifist and how he did managed to save many of his brothers-in-arms despite being unarmed himself.

* AFatherToHisMen: While they initially had doubts about Desmond joining, DrillSergeantNasty Howell and Glover are both caring towards his men under their command whilst on the battlefield and they were worried that Desmond's refusal to bear arms could mean the deaths of brothers-in-arms around him if he's not armed to defend himself and others in need, something that both of them brought when Howell orders his platoon not to rely on Desmond to help and Glover also telling him what would happen if Desmond on the battlefield had not weapon to protect himself and a wounded comrade. However, both superiors eventually warmed over and respected Desmond for being a BadassPacifist and how he did managed to save many of his brothers-in-arms despite being unarmed himself.

* AFatherToHisMen: While they initially had doubts about Desmond joining, DrillSergeantNasty Howell and Glover are both caring towards his men under their command whilst on the battlefield and they were worried that Desmond's refusal to bear arms could mean the deaths of brothers-in-arms around him if he not armed to defend himself and others in need, something that both of them brought when Howell orders his platoon not to rely on Desmond to help and Glover also telling him what would happen if Desmond on the battlefield had not weapon to protect himself and a wounded comrade. However, both superiors eventually warmed over and respected Desmond for being a BadassPacifist and how he did managed to save many of his brothers-in-arms despite being unarmed himself.