It’s no wonder that both movies tell the story of the US military in overseas operations: "Blood Battle of Hacksaw Ridge" took place in the Okinawa battle between the United States and Japan during World War II. It comes from a real story; "Billy Lynn" Based on the novel of the same name published by American writer Ben Fontaine in 2012, it tells the story of several American soldiers after returning from the battlefield in Iraq. Both films convey a certain anti-war, or reflection on war concept.
Ordinarily, I don't really like watching war movies, such as "Saving Private Rennes" and "The Hurt Locker". I almost fall asleep every time I watch such movies. Maybe the strong male hormones make me feel boring. I have to have something that transcends the war itself, and those who are unclear whether it is right or wrong, make me fascinated.
These two movies happen to be so.
But I think most people would like "Hacksaw Ridge" more because it is more passionate, masculine, and more inspirational. Yeah, it also talks about faith, doesn't it?
What can give people blood in this confusing era than a true story that lives by faith and wins in the end?
It is said that this is the first time that, instead of being exaggerated, the film was made more low-key at a discount than the real situation. The historical protagonist Doss (Desmond Doss) is even more fascinating than the movie.
Due to his religious beliefs (and the shadow of his childhood), Doss will not touch a gun when he grows up. But after the outbreak of World War II and the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, he, like other patriotic youths, also actively asked to enlist in the army to defend his country. But, what's the matter if you don't hold a gun as a soldier? However, he froze at the risk of violating military discipline, being isolated by his comrades (because if you don’t take a gun on the battlefield, can you cover your comrades or add chaos?), and the risk of being sent to a military court, never touch the gun. In the end, he became the first "conscientious objector" in history, a soldier who went to the battlefield to save people without arms. In fact, during the First World War, a man named Alvin York had done the same, but in the end he gave up halfway. Later, during the Vietnam War, two soldiers followed suit, but both died on the battlefield. Only Doss, who came back alive, lived to the end of his life.
In the movie, the net rope hanging over the 400-foot cliff of Hacksaw Ridge was actually hung by Doss and his comrades in reality. The U.S. military attacked the cliff. In fact, it did not stand firm as in the movie, but was defeated by the Japanese as soon as it went up. Then, the "miracle" in the film began-Doss did not retreat with everyone, but stayed alone, searching for the surviving wounded among the dead, less than ten meters away from the Japanese camp. Bandaging them, beating them with morphine, transfusing blood, and dragging them back and forth one by one and sending them off the cliff.
The most incredible, he worked for more than ten hours in the rain of bullets, and he was unscathed. Afterwards, there was also a Japanese captive who claimed to be a sniper. He recalled seeing this medical soldier who was not afraid of death in Hacksaw Ridge, but every time he shot at him, the bullet got stuck (Is there really a god blessing this "fool"? Did he pray sincerely?).
He saved a total of 75 people. It is said that this was also due to confusion, and he didn't count the numbers carefully and handled the reported figures humbly.
At the end of the movie, Doss kicked a grenade away, and the grenade exploded in the air, wounding his leg. The truth is that he waited on the spot for 5 hours before a stretcher came to take him away. But after not taking a few steps, Doss found that there was a wounded person more serious than him, so he climbed down, let go of the stretcher, and walked down by himself. At this time, he was hit by a sniper in the arm and wounded again.
At the end of the film, a recorded interview with the real Doss and his comrades is added. One of them mentioned this sentence: "Faith, it is not simple, it is yourself."
I am an atheist and cannot understand and appreciate the power of religious belief, but this sentence must not only touch me Up. In fact, the whole movie is about war. It is clearly about a young man, how to perseverely believe in a simple thing, and achieve the ultimate in this matter-juvenile faction, Forrest... stories like this are always moving. .
This may be why many people will not like "Billy Lynn" that much after watching "Blood Wars in Hacksaw Ridge". Because it is extremely difficult for us to become Doss, and it is extremely difficult for us to be such a simple and persistent person or even braveness; and we are more often Billy Lynn, thinking left and right, looking forward and backward-wanting to be loved. The woman said that she almost stopped wandering for you. Then the other party said: What did you say, you are a hero, and you want to return to the battlefield. Can only smirk dismal: Of course, I was joking.
For an illusory glory, I would rather be kidnapped by the world.
Ang Lee, a master of interpreting human nature, has penetrated deeply into the souls of us ordinary people. We are behind his 120fps/4k/3d lens, like a fly squatting on Billy Lynn's shoulder, clearly seeing everything he has experienced, and what we feel is not the sorrow of each of us. In simple and persistent, and entangled with twisting, of course we yearn for the former, but involuntarily become the latter.
When watching "Blood Battle on Hacksaw Ridge", I don’t know why I always think of reading "The Story of the Romans". It is said that during the Second Punic War, 29-year-old Hannibal led the Carthage Elephant Legion. Passing through the frozen Alps, suddenly appeared in front of the Romans like gods and ghosts. In order to encourage the soldiers who were on the verge of collapse in the severe cold and hunger, Hannibal said such a famous sentence. This passage is so famous that when Napoleon attacked Italy after 2000, he stood on the top of the Alps and said the same thing to the soldiers:
"There is Italy. As long as we enter Italy, it means we stand. We are in front of the city gate of Rome. Next, we are all going downhill. We only need to fight once or twice when we go down the Alps, and Italy will surrender. We will be the new masters of Italy."
Hannibal and Napoleon both failed in the end. However, they have won at least once. And most of us dare neither lose nor win. More often, we are in the intermission before returning to the battlefield, and we are in a dilemma.
I just hope that they will not live the life in Kafka's writings:
"Most people are not living at all. They are like coral attached to a large reef, but attached to life, and these people are better than those primitive creatures. They don’t have a solid rock to withstand the waves, and they don’t have a calcareous shell of their own. They only secrete corrosive mucus, making themselves weaker and more lonely, because this mucus completely isolates them from others. Come on."
Don't.
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