The movie I watched was Windtalkers. The movie tells the story of two white marines protecting two Navajo Code Talkers. The movie begins with a scene in which Joe Enders is with his soldiers in the battle in the Solomon Islands. Enders makes the call to hold their position which results in everyone dying except for him. Joe receives only damage to his ear, which causes his balance to be messed up. As a result, he is put in a military hospital where he receives treatment before improving enough to be put back into battle. Joe Enders is reassigned to protect Ben Yazzie, a Navajo code talker. At first Joe doesn’t like the Navajo Marine, but eventually respects him during the battle in Saipan. During the battle, Ben and his friend, Charlie Whitehorse (another Code Talker), demonstrate several courageous moves. Just to name a few (not in any specific order): Ben dresses up like a Japanese soldier and uses the Japanese radio to call off the artillery fire that is hitting friendlies. Another example is when Whitehorse throws a machete at a Japanese soldier who is about to kill one of the White Marines. Towards of the end of the movie, Whitehorse is about to be taken prisoner and tells Joe to throw a grenade killing about six Japanese and Whitehorse. In a classic example of a full circle ending, Joe has to once again decide whether to follow the orders and hold their position or to retreat and save the few remaining soldiers. He decides to retreat but him and Ben are shot several times while trying to. Enders dies of his wounds and the movie ends with Ben Yazzie doing a Navajo ritual back on the rez.
I thought the movie was good, but not great. The movie focused on Nicholas Cage’s character, Joe Ender, and not so much on the Navajo Code Talkers themselves. Although it showed them learning the code and calling in a few artillery strikes, it didn’t do enough. Overall, it was a good movie with several battle sequences and insights into the way the Navajos differed from the White Marines. The Navajo code talkers did a lot to help the win the war in the Pacific and I think the movie did an okay job at showing that.
Comments
Great job even though you repeated yourself!