This week in Christian history: Sistine Chapel ceiling art revealed to public; 'Hacksaw Ridge' debuts
Hacksaw Ridge debuts in US theaters – Nov. 4, 2016
This week marks the anniversary of when “Hacksaw Ridge,” a historical film centered on the life of Christian pacifist and World War II veteran Desmond Doss, debuted in American theaters.
Directed by Mel Gibson and starring Andrew Garfield as Doss, the movie centered on the hostility that Doss faced for refusing, for religious reasons, to fire a rifle at an enemy.
Instead, Doss earned the Medal of Honor for rescuing dozens of wounded American soldiers at the battle of Okinawa in the Pacific Theater, before he himself was badly wounded.
The film went on to receive six Academy Award nominations, including best actor for Garfield and best director for Gibson, and won two Oscars for film editing and sound mixing, respectively.
“Desmond was operating on another realm,” Gibson told The Christian Post in a 2016 interview. “He managed to maintain his higher self and his purpose and he was able to explore his virtue.”
“He would say himself, it wasn't him doing it, something greater than him was doing it. He said he was praying the whole time.”
