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Windtalkers

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Windtalkers is a 2002 World War II film directed by John Woo. Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater are two US Marine sergeants assigned to protect two Navajo Marine code talkers in the battle of Saipan.

Windtalkers
Directed byJohn Woo
Written byJohn Rice
Joe Batteer
Produced byJohn Woo
StarringNicholas Cage
Christian Slater
Adam Beach
Music byJames Horner
Distributed byMGM
Release dates
June 14, 2002
Running time
134 min.
LanguagesEnglish, Navajo, Japanese

Tagline: Honor was their Code.

Plot

The film begins with corporal Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) and a platoon of his fellow Marines fighting Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater in 1942. The outnumbered Marines are killed one by one, and as Enders mourns over the body of a friend, a grenade explosion knocks Enders over.

Enders is then transported to a field hospital where he is awarded the Purple Heart, before being transported to a military hospital. Almost two years later, Enders has mostly healed from his physical wounds except for troubled hearing in one ear. Considered unfit for duty unless he can pass a hearing test, a sympathetic nurse helps Enders cheat to pass. Enders is promoted to sergeant and returns to active duty. Now a grim, taciturn combat veteran who is almost deaf in one ear, Enders receives a top priority assignment protecting Navajo code talker Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach). Less jaded Sergeant Ox Anderson (Christian Slater) receives a parallel assignment protecting Navajo Charlie Whitehorse (Roger Willie). They are told that the code can not fall into enemy hands, which means that if the codetalker is about to be captured they are to kill him, so as to ensure the Japanese can't break the code. Also in their squad are Pvt. Chick, who is equipped with a BAR, Pvt. Pappas, Pvt. Harrigan, who is armed with a flamethrower, and Pvt. Nellie (played by Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt and Martin Henderson).

The Marines land at Saipan under heavy fire from the Japanese forces. Yahzee and Whitehorse receive their first taste of war with Yahzee often wincing and showing signs of disgust at all the death around him. In the battle Yahzee never opens fire on the Japanese forces.

When the Beachhead is secured, the Marines advance further into Saipan. Their convoy comes under artillery fire however and causes them to take cover. The artillery fire is then revealed to be from American guns, which are meant to be targeting Japanese positions just ahead of the road. Yazzie's radio is caught in the bombardment, disabling it, which meant that the group has no way to call off the artillery. The commander then orders them to attack the Japanese positions so as to avoid the American bombardment. In the battle Pvt Nellie is killed by the artillery when he attempts to save a wounded man. A plan is devised which involves Yahzee, disguised as a Japanese soldier, and Enders sneaking behind the Japanese lines to use their radio. The pair manages to reach the radio and Yahzee, after hesitating, kills the radioman before contacting the American artillery. He adjusts their fire so the bombardment will destroy the Japanese position. After the battle, Enders is awarded the Silver Star for saving the lives of his fellow marines. However, he gives the medal to Pvt Pappas to send to Nellie's wife back home.

The group moves on to a Japanese village where the Marines make camp and Yahzee is called back to headquarters. Later the village is attacked by Japanese troops. Harrigan is killed when his flamethrower unit explodes, setting him alight. Anderson is killed defending Whitehorse, who is almost captured by the Japanese. Enders arrives seeing Whitehorse being taken away and follows his orders to protect the Navajo code, killing Whitehorse and the Japanese with a grenade.

After the Japanese forces are eliminated, Yahzee asks Enders where Whitehorse is. Enders replies that he killed him. Yahzee, who does not know about Enders' mission, attacks Enders and almost shoots him before the rest of the squad stops him.

Near the end of the battle the group is sent to check out a ridge that has been bombarded by artillery. On the way the group walks into a minefield and is then attacked by the Japanese. After fighting their way out they reach the ridge, only to discover the Japanese guns are intact. The Japanese guns then proceed to fire on an American column caught out in the open. When the squad move towards the guns the commander is killed by enemy fire and command of the group passes to Enders. Yahzee charges the enemy, and in contrast to the landing scene, starts killing large numbers of Japanese troops. He loses the radio which they need to call in air support to destroy the guns. As Yahzee and Enders attempt to retrieve the radio, both of them are shot but they get the radio and get into cover. They are then surrounded by the Japanese and Yahzee tries to get Enders to shoot him to protect the code but Enders refuses to shoot him and carries Yahzee to safety. Yahzee then calls in air support which destroys the Japanese guns, saving the American column. Yahzee then sees that Enders is dying and tries to save him. Enders gasps his last words to Yahzee on how he didn't want to kill Whitehorse before he dies. The film ends with Yahzee back in the United States with his wife and son on top of a rock mountain, performing a Navajo ritual to pay his respects to Enders.

Criticism

The film reportedly cost $100 million, but made only $40 million at the US box-office and only $70 million worldwide. The film's release was delayed multiple times. Reviews were generally mixed. The consistent criticism was about the focus of the movie on Cage's character and his angst rather than on the codebreakers the movie derives its title from. The Navajo code talkers receive scant attention. While Cage is an accomplished actor, he may have been too old and even outright miscast for his role as a young, disillusioned noncommissioned officer. It was also hard to follow the popular and critically acclaimed WWII films Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line without critical and box office comparisons. Historically, the battle of Saipan was less balanced, more of a lopsided U.S. victory than the movie portrays. The U.S controlled the air over Saipan and landed 127,000 troops against 31,000 poorly equipped Japanese defenders, many of whom had arrived at Saipan badly burned or wounded from previous engagements. There is also some criticism over the filming location, as most of the production was filmed in Oahu, Hawaii rather than the actual island of Saipan. Despite both islands being in the Pacific, there is very little resemblance between the two. This has led some to believe that it caused the collapse of the film industry in Hawaii as, after the film was made, virtually no other mainstream films were produced or shot on the Hawaiian Islands up until the TV series Lost.

Cast

Trivia

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