The movie I watched was called Windtalkers starring Nicolas Cage. This movie was based on true events and was about a man named Corporal John Enders who was a marine fighting the Japanese in World War II. The whole movie takes place on the Japanese island of Saipan. If the marines are able to capture the island, it will get them closer to beating the Japanese. Enders was wounded in battle while trying to save a friend of his. His friend ended up dying and Enders became nearly deaf in one ear. He goes to an army hospital where he is to stay until he regains his hearing. Enders passes his hearing test with the help of one of the nurses at the hospital who takes a liking to him during his stay. He is then released from the hospital and goes back to active duty.
Upon his return, Enders, along with another marine, Sgt. Anderson, are assigned the task of protecting two Navajo privates, Ben Yahzee and Charlie Whitehorse. The Navajos had been trained to become codetalkers, who would relay messages back and forth to American battleships about the position of Japanese forces on land. Other Navajos on these ships would decode these messages and then aim towards land and bombard the Japanese. Ender's assignment was not only to protect these codetalkers, but also kill them if they were to get into the hands of the Japanese soldiers. Enders is of course not very excited about his new job. He believes that he is a great marine and does not deserve to be babysitting a rookie marine. Despite this, Enders continues on with his task and the marines go into their first battle.
The marines ride into their location in army vehicles but are soon bombarded by friendly fire from fellow Americans. Yahzee's radio is destroyed and he must now find another way to call off the artillery fire. Yahzee finds a dead Japanese soldier and dresses up in his uniform, looking exactly like a Jap because of his Navajo background. Still being attacked by Americans and Japanese, Yahzee, with the help of Enders, who pretends to be Yahzee's prisoner, go through enemy lines and find a radio. Yahzee speaks with the other Americans and the artillery fire is called off and instead directed towards the Japanese. Enders is given a medal later that day for saving a lot of lives although it was Yahzee's idea.
Later that night, the village where the marines are camping in gets attacked and Sgt. Anderson is decapitated by a Jap, leaving his Navajo codetalker, Whitehorse, very vulnerable. The Japanese gang up on Whitehorse, beat him up, and proceed to capture him so they can figure out the code. Enders tries to shoot the Japs, but he runs out of bullets. Now he has no other choice but to throw a grenade at the Japs, who are stilling holding on to Whitehorse, killing them all. Yahzee looks for his fellow Navajo, only to be told by Enders that he had killed him. Yahzee gets really angry and tries to shoot him.
The next day, the marines are walking through some brush and discover that they are trecking through a minefield. One wrong step can detonate the whole area. No one wants to move another step but Yahzee, still engraged by the death of his friend, goes crazy and starts shooting at the Japanese, killing them for the first time during the movie. In the process, Yahzee loses his radio again and gets shot in both legs. Enders carries him to safety despite the fact that he has been shot in the chest. As he lays there dying, Enders apologizes to Yahzee, saying he was just doing his job and the two reconcile their differences right before he dies. Enders was able to retrieve the radio however, and Yahzee calls out for planes to the outnumbered marines. The last scene is Yahzee performing a Navajo ritual back in Arizona, in which he explains to his wife and young son about the man who saved his life.
I really enjoyed watching this movie. A majority of the film took place during battle and there was some graphic parts including when Anderson got decapitaded and another guy lost a leg. It made me cringe a bit but I really liked that it had a great storyline but also historical references. It gave me some insight as to what it must have been like for the soldiers fighting in the war and the hardships they went through like being gone from their families and seeing their friends die. I honestly did not expect to see Enders die at the end of the movie so it was a sad moment when that happened. I had never seen a war movie before so this was really interesting to see. It definately had my attention throughout the whole movie.
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