I guess if you are a Native American fighting in a war on the side of the Americans, nicknaming yourselves Windtalkers might sound appropriate, but I still haven’t figured out what was in it for them. I mean fighting on the same side as the white man who was still trying to take away from them everything they have left, including their dignity. I guess that is why very few people ever heard that the Navajo fought in World War II using their language as a basis for military code, which the Japanese were never able to break. Nicolas Cage (Snake Eyes) stars in Windtalkers directed by John Woo (Mission Impossible II) as the good marine Sergeant Joe Enders. I don’t mean good as he was an honorable man, I mean he followed directions well and did whatever his CO’s told him to do even if everyone else around him had to die. He was a good marine.

This Woo film starts out in a battle, which Cage is leading his men for the first time. His orders are to hold the hill. Well they pretty much were getting their asses kicked and his men wanted to escape. Cage said no, and ended up being the only survivor. He took a pretty hard hit to the head, losing hearing in one ear but he held the hill. While in a VA hospital recovering he gets nurse Rita Swelton (Frances O’Connor) to fake his hearing test and get him back into combat. His new assignment is to protect the code along with fellow soldier Sergeant Peter Ox Henderson played by Christian Slater (3000 Miles to Graceland).  No, Ox is not because Slater packed on some pounds, he is from Oxnard California. If he makes it home from the war, he would be the one to take credit for putting fruit into yogurt. Their assignment is not to make sure these Navajo code talkers survive to speak code another day, their job is to make sure they are not captured because the code would be useless to the military is the Japanese figure it out. So the Navajo is dispensable just as if they were a pair of boots.

Normally in a war movie the characters are either lacking in moral fiber or heroic, but in Windtalkers this is just a bunch of guys coming to terms with themselves, their mission in this war and their upbringing. There is a lot of beautifully shot war scenes that are quite graphic. In fact Slater takes it to the head with a sword that is really awesome. Everyone stays true to their character, even as they grow as individuals. Also in this picture is Adam Beach (Joe Dirt) as the Navajo Private Ben Yahzee assigned to Cage, Roger Willie as Private Charles Whitehorse who was assigned to Slater, Peter Stormare (8MM), Noah Emmerich (Frequency) and Mark Ruffalo (The Last Castle).  The special effects were spectacular, the writing by John Rice and Joe Batteer was wonderful, and the acting was outstanding. So not only do you get a great action film with a storyline, you get some first class acting too. The topic is a little rough to deal with, but overall a picture that needed to be made. I give Windtalkers a nine out of 10 couches.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:48:08 AM

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