Faith is a central theme in Mel Gibson's latest film Hacksaw Ridge, according to the director who discussed its plot at a discussion forum.
The biopic follows the life of Desmond T Doss, a committed Seventh-day Adventist and World War II conscientious objector (portrayed on screen by Andrew Garfield). Doss was unwilling to take lives but anxious to save them.
Overcoming derision and abuse from his peers - and a push by his superiors to expel him from the Army with a dishonourable discharge - he was allowed to remain in the service as a medic. During the bloody Battle of Okinawa in the closing months of World War II, Doss saved scores of wounded soldiers in a manner so courageous that Congress eventually awarded him the Medal of Honour.
