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''Windtalkers'' is a 2002 American
war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
directed and co-produced by
John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun ...
, starring
Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare,
Noah Emmerich Noah Nicholas Emmerich (born February 27, 1965) is an American actor and director who is best known for his roles in films such as '' Beautiful Girls'' (1996), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Frequency'' (2000), ''Miracle'' (2004), '' Little Child ...
,
Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the television series '' She-Hulk: Attorne ...
, and
Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...
. It is based on the real story of
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
code talker A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is now usually associated with United States service members during the world wars who used their k ...
s during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
C. O. Erickson Clarence Oscar "C. O." Erickson (December 17, 1923 – June 28, 2017) was an American film producer and production manager who had nearly 60 years of experience working in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Career Born in Kankakee, Illi ...
was the executive producer. The film was released in the United States on June 14, 2002, and received mixed reviews and proved to be financially unsuccessful, grossing just $77.6 million worldwide against a production budget of $115 million.


Plot

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
,
US Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
corporal Joseph F. "Joe" Enders returns to active duty after having survived a gruesome battle on the Solomon Islands against the
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
that killed his entire squad and wounded his left ear. Enders and Sgt. Pete "Ox" Henderson receive new assignments to protect
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
code talkers A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is now usually associated with United States service members during the world wars who used their k ...
Pvt. Ben Yahzee and Pvt. Charlie Whitehorse in a JASCO. Yahzee and Whitehorse, childhood friends from the Navajo tribe, are trained to send and receive coded messages that direct artillery fire. Enders and Henderson are instructed to kill their code talkers if capture is imminent so that the code cannot fall into enemy hands. Both Enders and Henderson are less than happy to be babysitting their Navajo codetalkers, and the Navajos also endure racial harassment by some of the white Marines, notably Private Chick. During their missions, however, Henderson and Whitehorse discover a mutual love of music. Enders and Yahzee also find that they have much in common, notably their Catholic upbringings. The
invasion of Saipan The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June to 9 July 1944 as part of Operation Forager. It has been referred to as the "Pacific D-Day" with the ...
in the Mariana Islands becomes Yahzee's and Whitehorse's first combat experience. After the
beachhead A beachhead is a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a landing beach by sea and begins to defend the area as other reinforcements arrive. Once a large enough unit is assembled, the invading force can begin advancing inland. The ...
is secured, the Marines come under
friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while en ...
from U.S. artillery. With Yahzee's radio destroyed and the convoy unable to call off the bombardment, Yahzee suggests disguising himself as a Japanese soldier and slip behind enemy lines to commandeer a radio, with Enders as his prisoner. Yahzee is forced to kill for the first time before he can redirect U.S. artillery fire onto the Japanese position. For their bravery, Enders is awarded a
Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
by the commanding officer, with Yahzee's role almost ignored until Enders points him out. That night, the Marines camp in the nearby village of Tanapag. As Yahzee is temporarily assigned back to the command post to translate a code, Enders becomes increasingly torn over killing Yahzee and following his orders, but his request to be relieved from duty is denied. The next morning, Japanese soldiers ambush the village. Henderson is killed and Whitehorse is about to be captured. Realizing that the Japanese will torture him for the code, Enders throws a grenade at Whitehorse, killing him and his captors. Yahzee returns to Tanapag and, seeing Whitehorse's body, screams at Enders to explain what happened. When Enders mutters that he killed Whitehorse, an outraged Yahzee aims his weapon at Enders but cannot bring himself to kill him. Enders later confesses that he hated having to kill Whitehorse and that, like Henderson, his mission was to protect the code above all else. The Marines are sent on another mission and once again ambushed, this time near a deadly minefield on
Mount Tapochau Mount Tapochau is the highest point on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is located in the center of the island, north of San Vicente village and northwest of Magicienne Bay, and rises to a height of 474 m (1555  ...
, during which many Marines are killed. Enders, Yahzee, Chick, and Cpl. Pappas (the last of the Marines) take cover on a ridge and see Japanese artillery fire from the top of the ridge attacking a Marine convoy below their position. Still enraged over Whitehorse's death, Yahzee charges the Japanese line, killing many Japanese soldiers. Yahzee and Enders are both shot as they call in an airstrike on the Japanese artillery. However, surrounded and knowing the Japanese will capture and torture him for the code as they almost did with Whitehorse, Yahzee begs Enders to kill him. Enders, determined that no one else will die that day, manages to carry Yahzee to safety. Friendly planes arrive and the Japanese position is successfully destroyed. Yahzee rejoices in their success though Enders, mortally wounded, dies. Back in the U.S., Yahzee and his family sit atop Point Mesa in Monument Valley, Arizona, and, wearing the sacred necklaces and Navajo ceremonial dress, perform the Navajo ritual of paying their respects to Enders. An epilogue states that the Navajo code was crucial to America's successes against Japan across the Pacific theater during the war and that like all other Native American codes, the Navajo code was never broken.


Cast

*
Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...
as Sergeant Joe Enders * Adam Beach as Private Ben Yahzee * Peter Stormare as Gunnery Sergeant Richard Hjelmsted, Platoon Sergeant *
Noah Emmerich Noah Nicholas Emmerich (born February 27, 1965) is an American actor and director who is best known for his roles in films such as '' Beautiful Girls'' (1996), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Frequency'' (2000), ''Miracle'' (2004), '' Little Child ...
as Private First Class Charles "Chick" Clusters, a
BAR Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
gunner *
Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the television series '' She-Hulk: Attorne ...
as Corporal Milo Pappas, a rifleman *
Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...
as Sergeant Peter "Ox" Henderson * Roger Willie as Private Charlie Whitehorse * Brian Van Holt as Private Andrew Harrigan, the flamethrower man *
Martin Henderson Martin Henderson (born 8 October 1974) is a New Zealand actor. He is known for his roles on the American medical drama series '' Off the Map'' as Dr. Ben Keeton (2011), the medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy'' as Dr. Nathan Riggs (2015–201 ...
as Private Thomas Nellie, a rifleman * Frances O'Connor as Pharmacist's Mate 2nd Class Rita *
Scott Atkinson Scott Atkinson (July 23, 1966 – February 26, 2021) was an American actor and screenwriter from Pennsylvania best known for his many television roles, including recurring roles on ''Desperate Housewives, The Jamie Foxx Show, Commander in Chief (TV ...
as Camp Tarawa Staff Sergeant *
Jason Isaacs Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...
as Major Mellitz


Production

Filming locations on
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
included
Kualoa Ranch Kualoa is a private nature reserve and working cattle ranch, as well as a popular tourist attraction and filming location on the windward coast of Oahu in Hawaii. It is about from Honolulu, and from Haleiwa. The ranch consists of 3 valleys: ...
, the location where ''
Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'' and '' Jurassic Park'' were shot. To portray the Marines in the film the producers recruited extras that were volunteers from Schofield Barracks Army Base, Hickam Air Force Base, Pearl Harbor Naval Station, and Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station. Some of the actual Marines from 4th Force Recon Company were used in the film portraying their actual job. Some violence was trimmed in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. This violence trim was restored for the Director's cut released on DVD running 153 minutes. The film's release date was moved from November 9, 2001, to June 14, 2002. For the
F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...
fighters that appear in the beach-landing scenes on Saipan, the producers used computer-generated versions.


Reception


Box office

The film was a
box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, grossing only under $41 million at the US box-office and a total of $77.6 million worldwide, against a production budget of $115 million.


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film has an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 168 critics. The site's consensus states: "The action sequences are expertly staged. ''Windtalkers'', however, sinks under too many clichés and only superficially touches upon the story of the code talkers." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a score of 51% based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, remarking that "the filmmakers have buried it beneath battlefield cliches, while centering the story on a white character played by Nicolas Cage". Robert Koehler of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called it "A powerful premise turned into a stubbornly flat, derivative war movie." The film was criticized for featuring the Navajo characters only in supporting roles; they were not the primary focus of the film. The film was ranked number four on Careeraftermilitary.com's "10 Most Inaccurate Military Movies Ever Made" which also included '' The Patriot'', ''
The Hurt Locker ''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film foll ...
'', '' U-571'', ''
The Green Berets The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...
'', ''
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
'', ''
Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...
'', ''
Red Tails ''Red Tails'' is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States ...
'', ''
Enemy at the Gates ''Enemy at the Gates'' (''Stalingrad'' in France and ''L'Ennemi aux portes'' in Canada) is a 2001 war film directed, co-written, and produced by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on William Craig's 1973 nonfiction book '' Enemy at the Gates: The Batt ...
'' and '' Flyboys'' on its list of falsified war movie productions. About the response, John Woo said: "The main themes of Windtalkers are friendship and understanding. Unfortunately, the studio wanted a John Wayne movie, just a typical American hero film with explosions every few minutes. I had to make them understand that this wasn't a story about heroes. It's a story about a man and his own demons, trying to redeem himself from war. I made the movie that way, but some people in the studio didn't appreciate it and, in the end, I guess neither did the audience."


Accolades


See also

*
Code talker A code talker was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is now usually associated with United States service members during the world wars who used their k ...
*
List of box office bombs In the film and media industry, if a film released in theatres fails to break even by a large amount, it is considered a box office bomb (or box office flop), thus losing money for the distributor, studio, and/or production company that investe ...
*
Native Americans and World War II As many as 25,000 Native Americans in World War II fought actively: 21,767 in the Army, 1,910 in the Navy, 874 in the Marines, 121 in the Coast Guard, and several hundred Native American women as nurses. These figures included over one-third o ...


References


External links

* * * * * A documentary exploring issues relating to
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
involvement in film production. * (includes a dictionary of the code) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Windtalkers 2002 films 2000s war films Cryptography in fiction Films scored by James Horner Films about language Films about Native Americans Films directed by John Woo Films set in the 1940s Films set in the Solomon Islands Films set in the Northern Mariana Islands Films shot in Hawaii Films shot in California Films shot in Utah Pacific War films Films about the United States Marine Corps American war drama films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Navajo code talkers World War II films based on actual events 2000s English-language films 2000s American films