Hacksaw Ridge Stereotypes

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1940. Instantly to many people, that year brings the memory of World War Two. 16.1 million men and women served for the United States during World War Two. Of those men and women, 405,399 did not return. Thanks to Desmond Doss, seventy-five more people had a chance to not be the 405,399.
The movie Hacksaw Ridge by Mel Gibson depicts a story about a boy, Desmond Doss, and his struggle with family, war, and his religion. Desmond will not carry a gun, and because of this he experiences a hard road through the military. The movie eventually has him saving seventy-five lives at hacksaw ridge. The story is incredible for a farm boy with no gun, but how accurate is it? Hacksaw Ridge accurately depicts Desmond’s struggle in boot camp with his companions, …show more content…

All the soldiers in the squad are in the barracks doing their routine for the morning. Uniformed in their green boot camp outfits, they begin to take positions when they hear their sergeant coming. The men line up orderly and neatly in front of their station— a station that is supposed to be well kept and clean. Everyone’s station is clean when the sergeant walks in, but because of orders given to the sergeant, the sergeant attacks Desmond. The sergeant marches straight to Desmond’s station, flips his bed, and then says, “Doss your area is a disgrace, it’s a pigsty” The sergeant continues by saying, “A unit is only as strong as its weakest member” and then gives the unit a twenty-mile hike in full uniform. Later that night, he gets beat up by his fellow …show more content…

Was Desmond really attacked in boot camp though? The answer to that appears to be yes. Elizabeth Blair, a writer for NPR, reported about the movie Hacksaw ridge. She researched what happened to Desmond so that viewers will know what was true. In her report she says, “’He just didn’t fit into the army’s model of what a soldier would be’ and for that the army made his life hell during training” From this report you can see that Desmond did in fact have it rougher than the rest. Desmond himself days in a documentary about his life, “I was just a joke, and they made fun of me.” Ken Lafond, a platoon private with Desmond in his barracks says in the documentary, “He’d say his prayers at night and some guys took their shoes and threw their shoes at him and threw things at him and made fun of him right out in the open.” Being a famous army private, many articles have been written about Desmond. From all the first-hand report of this happening, the movie is accurate at depicting the treatment of Doss from his peers.
The social aspect of boot camp was rough particularly for Desmond, but for everyone boot camp was tough. In Hacksaw Ridge, it goes through many stages of boot camp. In Hacksaw Ridge, you see the privates run through an obstacle course. They climb ladders and ropes, crawl through mud, and sprint. Afterwards you see them in the rifle range learning about their m14. Another task you see them do is hike as a

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