WIND TALKERS
Cast Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Roger Willie, Christian Slater.
Director John Woo.
Time 134 minutes.

Windtalkers is a gem, a blend of masterful combat action and raw emotion based on a fascinating slice of World War II history.

Crafted by Hong Kong action director, John woo who is sought for his operatic, wildly violent fantasies, this film does not disappoint. Windtalkers is a tribute to heroes who shed real blood in horrific battles and the courage of the many men from various walks of life. The story revolves around the Navajo codetalkers recruited during WWII, to devise an unbreakable radio code based on their native language.

So valuable are the Navajos that each was assigned a bodyguard to protect them but also under order to kill their charges if capture was imminent. (The latter part was a cinematic liberty as such orders would be illegal and unenforceable.)

Adam Beach (Smoke Signals) exudes a quiet charm as Ben Yahzee, a young recruit paired with Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage), a veteran maimed in an assignment in which he was the only one to survive. Ben is friendly and open; Joe is reserved and embittered. A close friendship develops as the two struggle to survive in the gruesome battle to take over Saipan, in frenetic scenes of graphic gore.

The film's other key pair are Charlie Whitehorse (Navajo musician Roger Willie in his first screen role) and his bodyguard Ox Henderson (Christian Slater), who spend their quiet times harmonizing on a wooden flute and harmonica respectively.

The script by John Rice and Joe Batteer, never really escapes war movie cliches. The unit, for instance, is full of typical stereotypes. Noah Emmerich is a loud-mouthed bigot, Mark Ruffalo is a city boy from an ethnic suburb (usually this character is Italian, here he is Greek); Martin Henderson is the innocent newlywed. However, nicely modulated performances make even overly familiar scenes seem natural and new.

(One exception is Peter Stormare, a fine Swedish actor miscast as a unit leader; he simply cannot speak in a credible Midwestern accent.)

The subject may be new to him, but in Windtalkers Mr. Woo abandons none of his obsessions with loyalty, duty, religious ritual and even his usual birds in flight scenes are intact (no doves this time, but birds nonetheless). He also finds a way for the two protagonists to end up pointing guns at one another.

What he does do is apply his astonishing technical skills in a tribute to patriotism, tolerance, and self-sacrifice.