WINDTALKERS MOVIE REVIEW

"Windtalkers" comes advertised as the saga of how Navajo Indians used their
language to create an unbreakable code that helped win World War II in the Pacific.
That's a fascinating, little-known story and might have made a good movie. Alas, the
filmmakers have buried it beneath battlefield cliches, while centering the story on a
white character played by Nicolas Cage. I was reminded of "Glory," the story of heroic
African-American troops in the Civil War, which was seen through the eyes of their
white commanding officer. Why does Hollywood find it impossible to trust
minority groups with their own stories?
The film stars Cage as an Italian-American sergeant who is so gung-ho his men
look at him as if he's crazy. Maybe he is. After defending a position past the point of all
reason, he survives bloody carnage, is patched up in Hawaii and returns to action in a
battle to take Saipan, a key steppingstone in the Pacific war. In this battle he is assigned
as the personal watchdog of Pvt. Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), an almost saintly Navajo.
Sgt. Ox Henderson (Christian Slater) is paired with Pvt. Charles Whitehorse (Roger
Willie), another Indian. What the Navajos don't know is that the bodyguards have been
ordered to kill them, if necessary, to keep them from falling into enemy hands. The code
must be protected at all costs.
This is a chapter of history not widely known, and for that reason alone the film is
useful. But the director, Hong Kong action expert John Woo, has less interest in the
story than in the pyrotechnics, and we get way, way, way too much footage of bloody
battle scenes, intercut with thin dialogue scenes that rely on exhausted formulas. We
know almost without asking, for example, that one of the white soldiers will be a racist,
that another will be a by-the-books commanding officer, that there will be a plucky
nurse who believes in the Cage character, and a scene in which a Navajo saves the life of
the man who hates him. Henderson and Whitehorse perform duets for the harmonica
and Navajo flute, a nice idea, but their characters are so sketchy it doesn't mean much.

The battle sequences are where Woo's heart lies, and he is apparently trying to one-up
"Saving Private Ryan," "We Were Soldiers" and the other new entries in the ultraviolent,
unapologetically realistic battle film sweepstakes. Alas, the battles in "Windtalkers" play
more like a video game. Although Woo is Asian, he treats the enemy Japanese troops as
pop-up targets, a faceless horde of screaming maniacs who run headlong into withering
fire. Although Americans take heavy casualties (there is a point at which we assume
everyone in the movie will be killed), the death ratio is about 30 to 1 against the
Japanese. Since they are defending dug-in positions and the Americans are often
exposed, this seems unlikely.

The point of the movie is that the Navajos are able to use their code in order to
radio information, call in strikes and allow secret communication. In the real war, I
imagine, this skill was most useful in long-range strategic radio communication.
"Windtalkers" devotes minimal time to the code talkers, however, and when they do
talk, it's to phone in coordinates for an air strike against big Japanese guns. Since these
guns cannot be moved before airplanes arrive, a call in English would have had about
the same effect. That Woo shows the Windtalkers in the heat of battle is explained, I
think, because he wants to show everything in the heat of battle. The wisdom of
assigning two precious code talkers to a small group of front-line soldiers in a deadly
hand-to-hand fight situation seems questionable, considering there are only 400
Navajos in the Pacific theater.
The Indians are seen one-dimensionally as really nice guys. The only character of
any depth is Cage's Sgt. Enders, who seems to hover between shell-shock and
hallucinatory flashbacks. There is a final scene between Enders and Yahzee, the Navajo,
that reminded me of the male bonding in other Woo movies, in which you may have to
shoot the other guy to prove how much you love him. But since the movie has labored to
kill off all the supporting characters and spare only the stars, we are in the wrong kind of
suspense: Instead of wondering which of these people will survive, we wonder which
way the picture will jump in retailing war-movie formulas.
There is a way to make a good movie like "Windtalkers," and that's to go the indie
route. A low-budget Sundance-style picture would focus on the Navajo characters, their

personalities and issues. The moment you decide to make "Windtalkers" a big-budget
action movie with a major star and lots of explosions, flying bodies and stunt men, you
give up any possibility that it can succeed on a human scale. The Navajo code talkers
have waited a long time to have their story told. Too bad it appears here merely as a
gimmick in an action picture.

CHARACTERS:
Nicolas Cage as Sgt. Joe Enders
Sgt. Joe Enders is a physically and mentally damaged soldier fighting the
Japanese on the Pacific. After he is critically injured upon leading his squad to their
deaths in a bloody battle, the only redemption he believes he can find is by going back to
war. But his injury will keep him out unless he can find a way to cheat the medical
examination. Once back on the frontline, Joe is given the most dangerous task he can
ask for; close-guarding the Native American radio men used to speak in an unbreakable
code so the Japanese can't counter the US Navy's bombing strikes!

Adam Beach as Pvt. Ben Yahzee

Private Ben Yahzee is the father of a newborn child drafted into the conflict
against the Japanese for his Native American language, a code the Japanese have no
chance of breaking in the battle of the Pacific. Not just facing sure death or capture and
torture at the hands of suicidal Japanese soldiers, he also faces harsh adversity from one
particular American GI who believes his presence puts more soldiers in unnecessary
danger since his life has to be protected at all costs!

Roger Willie as Pvt. Charlie Whitehorse

The other Navajo Windtalker in the company, Charlie Whitehorse faces equal
adversity as Ben Yahzee, yet unlike the gentle and easily intimidated Yahzee,
Whitehorse is a fearsome and fearless soldier who more easily strikes up a rapport with
his guardian!
Mark Ruffalo as Pappas
Private Pappas is a neurotic New York soldier belonging to the squad Enders and
Yahzee are assigned to. Although he remains highly supportive of his squad mates, he
suffers anxiety attacks and becomes increasingly broken down the more volatile
situations become.
Christian Slater as Sgt. Pete 'Ox' Anderson
The contrasting Sergeant to Joe Enders' damaged, angry and frankly suicidal GI,
Ox Anderson is a gentler soldier but no less brave and competent in battle. The two
sergeants are told specifically not to grow attached or to befriend their radio men in case
they cannot prevent them falling into the hands of the Japanese, therefore having to
personally expend them, but when loyalty in war bonds them inevitably, Ox cannot deny
the brave Navajo his due and strikes up a friendship with Charlie Whitehorse!
Noah Emmerich as Private Chick
Private Chick is a large man of considerable strength and Sgt. Enders' squad
Browning Machine-Gunner. An invaluable soldier, Chick however comes off as a racist
for his despise of the Navajo soldiers as he doesn't agree with their presence in the
Pacific war!

DIRECTOR:
John Woo
Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his
film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He

directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a
wide variety of genres before Ying hung boon sik (1986) established his reputation as a
master stylist specializing in ultra-violent gangster films and thrillers, with hugely
elaborate action scenes shot with breathtaking panache. After gaining a cult reputation
in the US with Dip huet seung hung (1989), Woo was offered a
Hollywood
contract. He now works in the US.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>
WRITERS:
John Rice
John

Rice

is

writer

and

producer,

known

for Blown

Away (1994), Windtalkers (2002) and Chasers (1994). He is married to Tracie GrahamRice.
Joe Batteer
Joe

Batteer

is

writer

and

producer,

known

for Blown

Away (1994), Windtalkers (2002) and Chasers (1994).

SYNOPSIS:
Plot
During World War II, USMC Cpl. Joseph F. 'Joe' Enders rallies himself to return to
active duty with the aid of his pharmacist, Rita, after previously surviving a
gruesome battle on the Solomon Islands against the Imperial Japanese Army that killed
his entire squad and left him almost deaf from a Japanese grenade explosion. Enders'
new assignment is to protect Navajo code talker Pvt. Ben Yahzee, promoting Enders to
Sergeant. Sgt. Pete 'Ox' Anderson also receives a parallel assignment protecting Navajo
code talker Pvt. Charlie Whitehorse. The Navajo code, as it was known, was a code based
on two parts: 1) the Navajo language (notoriously difficult to learn or to understand);
and 2) a code embedded in the language, meaning that even native speakers would be

confused by it. Supposedly, this code was close to unbreakable, but so difficult only a few
people could actually learn it.
Yahzee and Whitehorse, lifelong friends from the same Navajo tribe, are trained to send
and receive coded messages that direct battleship bombardments of Japanese
entrenched positions. Enders and Anderson are told that since captured Navajos are
always tortured to death the code cannot fall into enemy hands, implying that they are
to kill their code talkers if capture is imminent. The invasion of Saipan is Yahzee and
Whitehorse's first combat experience. After the beach head is secured in vicious fighting,
the Marines come under friendly fire from American artillery. Yahzee's radio is
destroyed and the convoy is unable to call off the bombardment. Without the ability to
communicate and American artillery shells raining down on them, Yahzee disguises
himself as an Imperial Japanese soldier and slips behind enemy lines taking Enders as
his prisoner of war in search of a radio. Enders eliminates several Japanese soldiers and
Yahzee is forced to kill for the first time, slaying a Japanese radioman before he can
redirect American artillery fire onto the Japanese position.
Yahzee is sent back to headquarters and that night the Marines camp in a village,
Tanapag, thought to be secured. Later the next morning, Japanese soldiers attack.
During the fight Anderson is killed and Whitehorse is about to be captured by the
Japanese. Enders sees Whitehorse being beaten and dragged away by the Japanese and
tries to shoot the captors with his side arm, but it has run out of ammo. Enders primes a
grenade as Whitehorse nods to him, allowing Enders to throw the grenade at him in
order to protect the code, and the ensuing explosion kills both Whitehorse and the
Japanese captors. Yahzee returns to the front-line and soon learns that Enders killed
Whitehorse. Outraged, Yahzee aims his weapon at Enders and attempts to kill him, but
cannot bring himself to do it.
Soon after, the Marines are mobilized on another mission. But they are yet again
ambushed, this time near a deadly minefield. Barely able to fight their way out of the kill
zone and take cover on an old battle-torn ridge, the Marines see Japanese artillery fire
coming on top of the same ridge that is decimating advancing American troops below
their position. Still enraged over the death of Whitehorse, Yahzee charges the Japanese

line fearlessly, and in so doing, fumbles the radio needed to call in bombardments. In
the ensuing battle, Yahzee and Enders are both shot as they retrieve the radio and call in
an airstrike on the artillery. Enders manages to carry Yahzee to safety after taking a shot
in the chest. Friendly planes arrive and the Japanese position is successfully destroyed,
but Enders is mortally wounded. With his last breath, Enders confesses that he hated
having to kill Whitehorse and that his mission was to protect the code above all else.
Back in the U.S., Yahzee, his wife, and his son sit on atop of Point Mesa in Monument
Valley, Arizona, and perform the Navajo ritual of paying respects to the man who saved
his life. In the epilogue, the film explains that the Navajo code was critical to America's
success against Japan in the war, and that during the entire war, the code had never
been broken.