The Conscientious Objector | |
---|---|
Directed by | Terry Benedict |
Written by | Terry Benedict Jeff Wood |
Produced by | Terry Benedict |
Starring | Desmond Doss |
Cinematography | Suki Medencevic Darko Suvak Francis Kenny |
Edited by | Christopher Cibelli Sean McCulley Jeff Wood |
Music by | Bob Christianson |
Production companies | Chaparral West D'Artagnan Entertainment |
Distributed by | Cinequest |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Language | English |
The Conscientious Objector is a 2004 documentary film directed by Terry Benedict about the life of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who received the Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. Due to his religious convictions as a Seventh-day Adventist, Doss refused to carry a weapon. He initially faced opposition, persecution, and ridicule from his fellow soldiers, but ultimately won their admiration by demonstrating courage and saving many lives as a combat medic.
In 2016, Hacksaw Ridge , a fictional film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Andrew Garfield as Doss, was released to critical and commercial success, signaling Gibson's welcome-back to Hollywood. Benedict was one of the producers of Hacksaw Ridge, and the film features several excerpts from The Conscientious Objector immediately before the end credits.
The film has received more positive acclaim [1] [2] [3] and has won multiple awards, including: [4]
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocalyptic action series Mad Max and as Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action-comedy film series Lethal Weapon.
The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is produced by Cinequest, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is also responsible for Picture The Possibilities and the distribution label Cinequest Mavericks Studio LLC. Cinequest awards the annual Maverick Spirit Awards. In addition to over 130 world or U.S. premieres from over 30 countries, the festival hosts writer's events including screenwriting competitions, a shorts program, technology and artistic forums and workshops, student programs, and a silent film accompanied on the theatre organ. Founded in 1990 as the Cinequest Film Festival, the festival was rebranded in 2017 as the Cinequest Film & VR Festival and expanded beyond downtown San Jose to Redwood City. It took its present name in 2019.
Samuel Henry John Worthington is an Australian actor. He is known for playing Jake Sully in the Avatar franchise, Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation, and Perseus in Clash of the Titans and its sequel Wrath of the Titans.
Desmond Thomas Doss was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. Due to his religious beliefs, he refused to carry a weapon.
Andrew Russell Garfield is an English and American actor. He came to international attention in 2010 with the supporting role of Eduardo Saverin in the drama The Social Network. He gained wider recognition for playing Spider-Man in the superhero films The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), and later in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Garfield received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor for starring as Desmond Doss in the war film Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and as Jonathan Larson in the musical Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021). He also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the latter. He has since starred as a Mormon detective in the crime drama miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven (2022).
John Gilbert is a film editor who works primarily in New Zealand. Gilbert has edited 28 feature films as well as television shows and short films. He won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing and the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, among several honors, for Mel Gibson's war drama Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Gilbert had earlier received various accolades for his work on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), including the Satellite Award for Best Editing and nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and an ACE Eddie Award.
Mel Gibson is an American actor, director, and producer, who made his acting debut on the Australian television drama series The Sullivans (1976–1983). While a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he was given an uncredited role in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and subsequently appeared as a leading actor in the micro budget surf drama Summer City. Gibson rose to prominence during the Australian New Wave cinema movement in the early 1980s, having appeared in his breakthrough role in George Miller's dystopian action film Mad Max (1979), portraying the eponymous hero. He reprised the role in its sequels, Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). He appeared in Peter Weir's war drama Gallipoli (1981) and the romantic drama The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Five years later he played Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action comedy Lethal Weapon alongside Danny Glover—a role he later reprised in its sequels Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).
Thou Shalt Not Kill, also known as L'objecteur, is a 1961 French feature film directed by Claude Autant-Lara, written by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, and starring Laurent Terzieff and Horst Frank. Actress Suzanne Flon won the Best Actress award at the 1961 Venice Film Festival for her role in the film.
Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet is a feature-length documentary film directed by Jesse Vile about guitarist Jason Becker and his 22-year-long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Hacksaw Ridge is a 2016 biographical war film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, based on the 2004 documentary The Conscientious Objector directed by Terry Benedict.
Dying to do Letterman is a 2011 documentary film, directed by Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina, and produced under their Joke Productions banner. The documentary follows the journey of Steve Mazan, a stand up comedian with the lifelong dream of performing a comedy routine on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Judith Ehrlich is an American film director, writer, and producer. Her work includes co-directing the 2009 documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards, won the Special Jury Award at the IDFA, won a Peabody Award, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit In Nonfiction Filmmaking.
Simon Duggan, ASC, ACS is a New Zealand-Australian cinematographer. His body of work includes collaborations with directors like Baz Luhrmann, Alex Proyas, Mel Gibson, Greg McLean, and George Miller. He has won the AACTA Award for Best Cinematography twice, for The Great Gatsby (2013) and Hacksaw Ridge (2016).
Andy "Frank" Wright is an Australian supervising sound editor. He is known for his work on the war-drama film Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson, for which he received two Academy Award nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, Best Sound Editing and winning Best Sound Mixing (both shared with Robert Mackenzie).
Terry Benedict is an American film producer. He is the founder and CEO of The Shae Foundation.
Conscientious objection in the United States is based on the Military Selective Service Act, which delegates its implementation to the Selective Service System. Conscientious objection is also recognized by the Department of Defense.
Hacksaw Ridge (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album to the 2016 biographical war film Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson. The film is scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams, who replaced John Debney, the original composer who had attached to write music for the film. The score was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios, London during September and October 2016. The score was released by Varèse Sarabande on November 4, alongside the film.
Michael G. “Mic” Rodgers is an American film and commercial director, second unit director, stunt coordinator, and stunt performer. As a stunt performer, he is known for serving as a stunt double for actors such as Mel Gibson. He has also served as a second unit action director and/or stunt coordinator for films such as Braveheart,Hacksaw Ridge,The Fast and The Furious, and Twister. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, he won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 2002 for his invention of the “Mic Rig,” a stunt vehicle. He has also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his work on Hacksaw Ridge and two Taurus World Stunt awards.