Windtalkers
Starring Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater & Adam Beach.
Directed by John Woo
Duration : 2 hours, 13 minutes
WINDTALKERS begins quietly--with widescreen aerial shots of clouds
that gradually clear to reveal the beautiful mesas of Monument
Valley. A bus collects Navajo volunteers Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach)
and Charlie Whitehorse (Roger Willie). It's 1943, and the U.S. has
developed an indecipherable secret military code based on the
Navajo language. Yahzee and Whitehorse are to be trained as code
talkers.
Then John Woo's Pacific war film erupts into violence, with a
savage battle that has one survivor, Joe Enders (Nicholas Cage).
Badly wounded and feeling guilty at the loss of his companions, Joe
recuperates in Hawaii where he is helped by a sympathetic nurse
(Frances O'Connor). Joe disguises his hearing loss and he is
promoted as Yahzee's battlefield bodyguard. Ordered to "protect the
code at all times," Joe must prevent Yahzee from being captured. At
first, Yahzee and Whitehorse, whose bodyguard is Ox Henderson
(Christian Slater), are subjected to prejudice--particularly from
Rogers (Noah Emmerich). But when the unit is shipped to Saipan, the
Marines begin to appreciate the code talkers.
Director Woo has created a powerful drama. The visceral battle
sequences are strikingly filmed and there is fine acting from Cage,
Beach, Willie, Slater, Emmerich, and Frances O'Connor, who portrays
the poignancy of love in uncertain times.
Nice show. Moralilty is in question.
