9 More Films "Based On True Stories" That Missed Out The Best Part

8. Doss' Heroism - Hacksaw Ridge

If you watched Mel Gibson's surprisingly excellent Hacksaw Ridge, you would have been struck by not only the ultra-violence and unflinching portrait of the horror of war (which is a TINY bit fetishised for the sake of drama), but also by the extent of Desmond Doss' heroism.

The conscientious objector - played by Andrew Garfield in full Oscar-fishing mode - infamously saved 75 wounded soldiers under the nose of an enemy desperately defending the ridge, despite refusing to use a weapon. His was a compelling, disarmingly humanist story that deserved telling and it's actually done justice to by Gibson.

Still, it cut out some of the extent of his heroism. Doss was actually injured four times in Okinawa (including an injury that ended his career as a carpenter post-War), and took seventeen pieces of shrapnel to his body. But it takes more than bullets and white hot metal to shake the commitment of a man like this.

In the wake of saving his comrades from a grenade - which caused the grievous shrapnel injuries - Desmond was being carried away on a stretcher through an enemy tank attack. But he spotted another soldier injured, so rolled off the stretcher and crawled to him to help treat his wounds. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a Japanese sniper's bulelt, which shattered his left arm and forced him to crawl 300 yard unfer fire using a splint made from a rifle stalk.

Gibson apparently left it out because it would have been too unbelievable.