The reactions Mel Gibson got from real war veterans are a testament to how movies hold the power to positively impact the lives of those who have experienced the harsh realities of life

When Mel Gibson was making his Oscar-winning, Andrew Garfield starrer movie, he was worried. Not because of his controversial past and what impact it would have on the movie but rather how he would capture the essence of a war-based movie especially when it was based on a real-life story. Based on Desmond Doss’ life, Hacksaw Ridge went on to become an immediate success.
Mel Gibson
However, to make it a success Gibson had to carry out extreme research to understand how War veterans felt and capture their feelings of the whole experience and after perfectly. Fortunately for him, his efforts bore fruit when veterans liked the movie.

Mel Gibson Was Afraid Of Backlash For $180M Movie

Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge
Mel Gisbon‘s $180 million Hacksaw Ridge was based on the real-life story of Desmond Doss. Doss was an American Army medic during World War II, who refused to hold any arms and went on to earn the highest Medal of Honor. Gibson’s direction and Andrew Garfield‘s portrayal of Doss went on to make the movie one of the most popular and acclaimed war-based movies.

The movie’s success was not surprising for Gibson had toiled for years to understand and research what war veterans go through. The talented actor and director had spent a huge amount of time with veterans and even criminals, all because he wanted to create a movie that would perfectly capture experiences like PTSD and do justice to the story instead of being just another ‘cinematic masterpiece’ and face backlash. In his interview with Deadline, Gibson stated,

“I talked to guys from World War I and I talked to guys from World War II…  I met all those old diggers from the trenches… I talked to murderers in prison. I find it intensely interesting to try to access somebody’s head who do some incredibly interesting things. I talked to the Korean War guys, a lot of the Vietnam guys. I’ve talked to the guys from Iraq, a lot of disabled vets.”
His extreme and in-depth research paid off for the veterans themselves found it therapeutic instead of being triggered by it as he had initially expected.

Mel Gibson Is Grateful How War Veterans Felt About His $180M Movie

Hacksaw Ridge directed by Gibson
The biggest worry of the Hollywood veteran was to effectively capture the feelings of soldiers before, during, and after wars. He spent years understanding how PTSD plays out and how it impacts soldiers who go through some of the most extreme moments of human life. So when he finally showed his movie to some war veterans, the director felt immense gratitude that he had managed to capture everything he had aimed for. In his interview with Deadline, he revealed,
“We showed it to the Disabled American Veterans conference. I went to Georgia, South Carolina, Fort Benning. I’m really quite gratified that it played out the way it did, especially for the vets and the disabled guys is that they found it cathartic but they found it therapeutic. They really dug it. I was worried. Is it going to trigger some kind of reaction? Some of them had a tough time with it but they thought it was a very positive and good thing to watch.”
The reactions that Gibson got from real war veterans are a testament to how movies hold the power to positively impact the lives of those who have experienced the harsh realities of life.

Hacksaw Ridge can be streamed on Netflix.