Windtalkers

Windtalkers Information

Windtalkers is a 2002 action war film directed by John Woo. Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater star as two US Marine sergeants assigned to protect Navajo code talkers (Adam Beach and Roger Willie) in Saipan during World War II.

Plot

During World War II, Cpl. Joe Enders rallies to return to active duty with the aid of his pharmacist, Rita, after previously surviving a gruesome battle 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, which earns him the rank of sergeant. Sgt. 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 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 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 beachhead is secured, 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 thought to be secured. Later the next morning, Japanese soldiers raid the camp. During the fight Henderson is decapitated and his code talker Pvt. 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 which is decimating 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. Yahzee and Enders are both shot as they attempt to retrieve the radio. Enders manages to carry Yahzee to safety after taking a shot in the chest. 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.

Cast

Nicolas Cage as Sergeant Joe Enders
Adam Beach as Private Ben Yahzee
Mark Ruffalo as Corporal Milo Pappas
Peter Stormare as Gunnery Sergeant Richard "Gunny" Hjelmstad
Noah Emmerich as Private Charles "Chick" Clusters
Christian Slater as Sergeant Peter "Ox" Anderson
Roger Willie as Private Charlie Whitehorse
Brian Van Holt as Private Andrew Harrigan
Martin Henderson as Private Thomas Nellie
Frances O'Connor as Rita
Jason Isaacs as Major Mellitz
Billy Morts as Corporal Fortino
Cameron Thor as Mertens

Production

Steve Termath was originally cast for the role of Private Nellie. The role, however, went to Martin Henderson when Termath took a brief hiatus from acting for actual military service, enlisting in the United States Army Reserve.

Filming locations on Hawaii included Kualoa Ranch, the location where Lost and Jurassic Park were shot. To portray the Marines in the film the producers recruited extras that were volunteers from Schofield Barracks Army Base, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor Naval Station, and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station. Some of the actual Marines from 4th Force Recon Company were used in the film portraying their actual job. Some violence was trimmed in order to avoid an NC-17 rating.This violence trim was restored for the Director's cut released on DVD.

For the F6F Hellcat fighters that appear in the beach-landing scenes on Saipan, the producers used computer-generated versions.

Reception

The film reportedly cost $115 million, but made only just under $41 million at the US box-office and a combined $77.6 million worldwide. The film's release was delayed multiple times, and it received mostly negative reviews; it currently holds a 33 percent approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, based on 168 reviews (57 positive, 111 negative). Roger Ebert gave the film two stars, remarking that "the filmmakers have buried it beneath battlefield cliches, while centering the story on a white character played by Nicolas Cage".

The film was criticized for featuring the Navajo characters only in supporting roles; they were not the primary focus of the film.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Winner/Nominee	Category
2003	Harry Award		Appreciation of History
	World Stunt Awards	Brett A. Jones	Best Fire Stunt
		Al Goto & David Wald	Best Fire Stunt
		Spencer Sano	Best High Work