Brothers in Arms: Windtalkers
Windtalkers
Directed by John Woo
Starring Adam Beach, Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater and Roger Willie
www.mgm.windtalkers.com
Release Date: June 14, 2002
Freedom is not free. The sacrifices made by countless soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines secured our freedom in the United States. Many of these warriors were Native Americans who fought and died in America’s wars. Windtalkers reveals these truths in an awe-inspiring movie whose story should have been told decades ago. But, regrettably, the heroic activities of the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II were kept classified by the government until the 1960s.
In the Pacific Theater, the U.S. military depended on secure communications to conduct their island-hopping campaign to Japan. The Marine Corps enlisted some 400 Navajo radio operators to speak to each other in coded Navajo. The Japanese were never able to crack the complex code, thus the Navajo language helped win the war.
High-octane director John Woo (Mission Impossible 2) does an immense service to the Native American community in his respectful portrayal of the Navajo Code Talkers. While the Code Talkers have been the subject of earlier documentaries (see Native Peoples, Spring 1995), this is the first big-budget Hollywood treatment of this exceptionally important story.
Windtalkers tells the story of Private Ben Yahzee, a Diné from the Arizona side of the Navajo Nation. He wants to join the fight against America’s enemies during World War II. Yahzee (portrayed by Adam Beach, Ojibwe) talks his friend Charlie Whitehorse (played by Roger Willie, Diné) into joining the United States Marine Corps—the world’s premier light infantry group. Marines live by a very simple but difficult code: “unit, Corps, God, country.” They are trained to lay down their lives for their fellow Marines.
Yahzee’s guard is Sgt. Joe Enders (played by Nicolas Cage). Sgt. Enders fought previously in the horrific Solomon Islands campaign and was grievously wounded. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and tries to avenge the deaths of his fallen comrades. Enders has a dirty little secret: He does not want to befriend Yahzee, because he was ordered to kill Yahzee if the Japanese threaten to take Yahzee prisoner. Protection of the Navajo code is the prime mission, taking precedence even over the life of the Code Talker. Yet, a friendship develops between Yahzee and Enders. The dramatic tension in Windtalkers is created by this illegal order—Marines are trained to save each other, not kill each other. Enders is a good Marine who follows orders. This high-stakes moral dilemma runs through the heart of the film, including its state-of-the-art special effects re-creation of the furious Battle of Saipan.
Yahzee and Whitehorse are thrown into this brutal milieu and face additional conflicts unique to their identities. Many of their fellow Marines have never been around Native Americans, and some make ignorant, racist comments. Whitehorse initially wilts under this ugliness, whereas Yahzee fights it with dignity and humor. But in the end, both Yahzee and Whitehorse earn the respect of the other Marines.
Windtalkers is a breakthrough film because it deals with this modern contribution of Native Americans to American life and does not lapse into tiresome historical stereotyping. Yahzee and Whitehorse are real people who bleed like real Marines. The film does not glorify war, nor is it antiwar. Its ugly brutality is simply shown in its gory details. This Navy veteran says “Semper fidelis,” John Woo.
David Claudio Iglesias (Kuna), our film/video editor, is the U.S. Attorney for the State of New Mexico. The Naval Reserve JAG officer has written for Native Peoples since 1992.
