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WINDTALKERS Send This Review to a Friend
There's more blood and guts in "Windtalkers" than in most war movies, but the story angle makes this film different in another way and compensates for the cliches that run counter to the combat realism sought by action director John Woo. The inspiration comes from the reportedly true situation of Navajo Americans recruited into the U.S. Marines in World War II for the purpose of using the Navajo language as a code that the Japanese were never able to break.
That said, the screenplay by John Rice and Joe Batteer sets up a drama that makes one wonder what's accurate and what's Hollywood while reminding us what a bloody affair winning the war in the Pacific theater was. "Windtalkers," the title taken from what the Navajo code experts were called, starts lyrically with shots of Monument Valley and the farewells by Navajo men leaving for the war. The scene fades dramatically into the brutal fighting with Nicolas Cage as Joe Enders, who survives the slaughter of his men. He blames himself for their deaths because, obeying orders, he insisted on holding a position even though the men pleaded with him to fall back. Enders has been wounded and we follow his recuperation, but although he mostly recovers physically save for loss of hearing in one ear, he can't get over his psychological wounds.
Enders is promoted and, geared to the invasion of Saipan, is given a new assignment to protect a Navajo Marine, Ben Yahzee, portrayed by Adam Beach in one of the film's best performances, along with the effective work of Cage, who is really the center of the saga and succeeds in making the character complex. Enders is given to understand that his mission includes killing Yahzee if need be should the Navajo be on the verge of being taken prisoner and possibly tortured for information about the code. The assignment really is, when faced with the choice, to protect the code first. The trusting Navajos do not know this. As Enders becomes friendly with Yahzee despite his efforts not to and comes to admire him as a soldier, the situation gets complicated, as it does for other Marines watching over their Navajo counterparts. There are also scenes in which the Navajos have to endure racist attitudes and remarks.
But questions immediately come to mind about the film. Did Marines really have orders to kill the Navajos? Also, the circumstances under which the code is used in the film makes the whole business seem a waste. Time and again the code is invoked to radio for quick air support to hit positions shelling the Marines in the brutal fighting on Saipan. But why not use plain English to call in the coordinates of the Japanese positions? The Japanese there knew where they were and that they were vulnerable to air attack, which they could expect. What was the secrecy? The code could be much more valuable in less obvious situations.
The battle scenes are relentlessly horrible, with men and limbs flying about, soldiers screaming in pain and the death and wounded toll high on both sides. This is Woo's meat. He directs as if going for broke in the realism department, to the point that the combat sequences could be shortened. We get the point over and over again. The surging music, a common flaw in other war films, undercuts the realism here too. Wars aren't fought to music. The sounds of battle are better left on their own. Also, there are drama cliches in the relationships, like Enders blithely giving the medal he is awarded to the Navajo he feels deserves it more. Yeah.
Still, "Windtalkers" is engrossing because of the Navajo involvement and the performances, including a strong one by Roger Willie as Charlie Whitehorse, who fights bravely and whose capture tests the extent to which a Marine can follow orders that run counter to his instincts. Christian Slater is also convincing as Ox Anderson, another assigned to protect the code. A further plus is the performance of pretty Frances O'Connor as a military nurse who falls for Enders, and the film wisely doesn't try to wrap up the relationship and thereby weaken the main story line. This is not "Pearl Harbor." Despite the excesses and questionable elements, precision-made "Windtalkers" holds interest. An MGM release.
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