Windtalkers, a film directed by John Woo, is geared to promote the significance of the Navajo Indian code talkers in later stages of the Second World War. The film takes place in Saipan, home soil of the Japanese, in 1944. The main character is Joe Enders, who is an aggressive marine whom cheats his way back into battle. He is given a new assignment of protecting one of the Navajo code talkers, Ben. This promotes him to Sergeant, and later earns him another Silver Star that he thoughtfully gives away. The film includes two Navajo soldiers, Ben and Whitehorse, who are in battle to serve the United States as code talkers, also known as Windtalkers. They use their native language so that the Japanese are unable to translate, which is the United States" key to victory in Saipan.
The film is very effective in portraying the panic and confusion within the infantries. Late in the movie, U.S. troops actually fire at their own men for a good twenty minutes, killing dozens, which leads to an exciting infiltration maneuver by Enders and Ben. Since the film is about code, and protecting the code, Enders is put into many difficult situations; one of which he kills a fellow windtalker, Whitehorse, in order to protect the code. .
The code talkers successfully complete their assignments, leading to exciting battle scenes of the United States devouring the disoriented Japanese. The U.S. can radio in site coordinates to their navy and other divisions without the Japanese's ability to decode, leaving them as underdogs on their own soil. .
John Woo does an excellent job with the cinematography, which captures the essence and horror of battle. But Woo may have been a little extreme, since the film is essentially about the code talkers. Maybe Woo should have focused more on the development of the code; although I feel it's imperative that graphic details are included, so that moviegoers inherit the true horror and madness of war.
