Never Let Me Go (2010)

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, this is possibly the most depressing film I’ve ever seen. 

1978. Three young friends, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth, are at a mysterious boarding school called Hailsham. One day, a teacher tells them that they only exist to be organ donors. They will “complete” (i.e., die) in early adulthood when they are no longer strong enough to donate further organs. The film is split between their childhood at Hailsham and their adulthood – in 1985, and then in 1994 – once the donor process begins. Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield star. 

What makes it work is that the plot functions as a romantic love triangle, but it’s set against an extremely subtle dystopian backdrop. There’s a lot that isn’t explained – such as why they barely seem to resist or even question their destiny. Is that because of brainwashing or did the film just avoid the most obvious issues? As it stands, their resigned behaviour just adds to the sense of grim fatalism, which is probably intentional. 

The bleakness comes from the way it’s shot as well as the overall message. It leaves you almost no glimmer of hope. In its own it's way quite brilliant, but ultimately I regretted watching it.

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

War film directed by Mel Gibson. It tells the true story of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who served as a medic in World War II. A Seventh-day Adventist Christian, Doss saved 75 lives during the Battle of Okinawa by returning again and again to tend to wounded US soldiers abandoned where they had fallen.

Andrew Garfield is sympathetic as the religious young man who will not compromise his principles by picking up a gun. Teresa Palmer and Hugo Weaving are watchable as Doss’s wife Dorothy and his troubled, alcoholic father. 

It’s compelling stuff. The battle scenes are brutal and all-too-convincingly real-looking. If there’s a flaw it’s that the Japanese are generally treated as a faceless enemy, although the film eventually addresses this by showing Doss helping victims on the other side as well. It’s not morally simplistic, either. The story addresses the irony that despite the strength of his principles, his life is nevertheless saved by men using guns. 

I didn't like the introduction of real interview footage at the very end. Either dramatise the story or make a documentary about it. Why blend the two? The same trick was used to equally jarring effect in Downfall. Also, on reading up on the story I was a little disappointed to learn that a key scene in which the young Doss nearly kills his father never actually happened. The facts are remarkable enough that there was no need to make things up.