The film depicts a brutal physical beating of Doss by his fellow soldiers at night. Multiple sources indicate that the harassment included thrown shoes, insults, and social exclusion — real and sustained harassment — but there is no documented evidence of the organized nocturnal beating the film depicts.
The “Smitty” character who threatens Doss and then becomes a close friend is a fictional composite of several actual soldiers.
The film omits the Sabbath delay on May 5 — the moment when the assault waited while Doss completed his morning Bible reading. This is one of the more historically significant details of the May 5 sequence, and its absence from the film is notable.
The film also omits the sniper wound and the 300-yard crawl after Doss gave up his litter on May 21. Gibson reportedly cut this because he judged it too implausible for a film audience. The historical record documents it clearly.
There is no evidence that Doss lowered wounded Japanese soldiers down the escarpment, though accounts note that American soldiers found a Japanese soldier with an American bandage — possibly applied by Doss. He is reported to have attempted to help at least one wounded Japanese soldier, which is consistent with his general posture toward all human beings in need of medical care, but the film’s depiction of him lowering Japanese casualties is not supported by the documented record.
## What the Escarpment Looks Like Now
A bronze tablet honoring Desmond Doss was placed at the Maeda Escarpment on Okinawa. The Okinawa International Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kitanakagusuku has a marker commemorating him. The terrain that was called Hacksaw Ridge in 1945 is accessible today, and the physical reality of the escarpment — the height of the cliff face, the steepness of the approach, the exposure of the top — is visible to anyone who makes the trip.