USA, 1945. The son of a traumatized WWI veteran, Desmond Hoss decides to enlist. Like all those of his generation, he cannot imagine staying behind while his compatriots risk being killed on the battlefield. But Desmond has an unshakeable faith: following the commandments of god, he refuses to kill his neighbor, and therefore to carry a weapon. A conscientious objector, he gets mistreated by the army, but becomes a hero when he saves 75 soldiers under enemy fire on the impregnable Maeda Escarpment (aka Hacksaw Ridge) on Okinawa...

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It’s been ten years since Mel Gibson made a movie – Apocalypto, which had followed the phenomenal success of 2004's The Passion of the Christ. Gibson’s return is spectacular and sensational. Drawn from an extraordinary true story, Hacksaw Ridge is a powerful war movie, an unexpected explosion that shakes you to the core. It doesn’t matter that the first part is very conventional and the mise en scene is simplistic: this story of blind faith, of Christ-like survival, is fierce and brutal, which makes for great battle scenes and grandiose cinema that are literally awesome. With a perfect performance by Andrew Garfield, who has been deservedly nominated for an Oscar – his first – as has Gibson for best director.