Hacksaw Ridge Thesis

Introduction

Hacksaw Ridge is a historical biographical movie that came out in 2016, it was directed by Mel Gibson, and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Scehnkkan. The film focus on a real-life superhero name Desmond T. Doss, who is played by Andrew Garfield, on his life journey during World War II as a combat medic. Doss lived on the countryside of Blue Ridge Mountains where he lived with his mother, abusive alcoholic father, and brother Hal. Due to an accident that happen between Desmond and Hal when they were younger, Desmond became a Seventh-Day Adventist, having against killing any other human being as his religious beliefs. He enlists in the Army to serve as a combat medic, where he is placed under the command of Sergeant Howell

and Captain Glover. He passed and excels all his physical training, but when it comes to handling and practicing with rifles, he refuse since it is against his religious beliefs. He became an outcast from his fellow soldiers and got sent to military jail by the Captain. He then is taken to trial in military court, where the committees decided that he would be allow to continue serving without having or using any sort of weapons. In the end, thanks to Desmond, he was able to rescued 75 men, helped overtake the Hacksaw Ridge from the Japanese soldiers and won the battle of Okinawa.
Leadership is the relationship between leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. There are numerous of leadership theories, behaviours and examples demonstrated by Desmond, the protagonist, and several other individuals. This movie will be analyzing on five theories which includes leadership style, value of conflicts, building relationships and trust, teamwork, and effective communications.

Building Relationships and Trust
Not only does the movie focus on Desmond and his life journey as a soldier during World War II, but also his relationships with other people along the way and their trust with each other. Whether it is friendship or relationship, all bonds are built on trust. Without trust, it's only a matter of times before the relationship crumbles.
Desmond is a Christian and a part of the Seventh-Day Adventist, where he believed to love one another and “Thou shalt not kill” any living being.

This show Desmond’s relationship with God is strong and unwillingly to go against his beliefs. As a combat medic in the military, his goal is to save lives. His relationship with other fellow soldiers is what made an impact on building relationships in this movie. There was one particular scene where everyone was retreating from the Battle of Okinawa, Desmond took the opportunity to stay behind. Desmond found a fellow soldier who got injured in the battle of Okinawa. He then saved that fellow soldier by providing a temporary solution in order to maintain his life. However, the Japanese soldiers began approaching, looking for any U.S soldiers that are still alive. He covered one fellow soldier with dirt and use a dead soldier to cover his own body. Desmond wasn’t going to leave any fellow soldiers behind despite how badly injure he was. When the Japanese were out of sight, he then carry him to the edge of Hacksaw Ridge and lower them down to the U.S soldiers that were guarding at the bottom of Hacksaw Ridge. After saving one’s soul, he try to found more living souls, but no such luck. He then placed his trust in God asking for his help in finding more soul that need to be saved, so he could save as many lives as possible. God began answering his prayers as he found more and more wounded soldiers that need to be saved. One by one, he

was able to save 75 souls.
When Desmond entered the military, he tried to befriend his fellow soldiers. However, the soldiers didn’t trust him to have their back, especially when someone like Desmond began to refused handling and using weapons. After he helped those wounded soldiers on Hacksaw Ridge and saving their lives, Desmond began to earn those soldiers’ respect and trust. They began to change their perspective on him and trusted him with their lives, knowing that Desmond is willing to sacrifice his life and help his fellow soldiers despite the way they had treated and bullied him. They even have Desmond prayed for them right before working together and winning the battle of Okinawa.