god, this movie looks like it's gonna suck. (Warning I'm probably going to ruin WindTalkers for ya, not cause I've seen it but cause I'm familiar with the history.)

I spent the weekend trying not to let myself get too judgemental, John Woo could still surprise me, you never know. But I've been surfing early reviews and it looks like it's gonna suck.

A year ago when I first heard about Windtalkers I thought that would be very interesting and I fell in love with the concept. Then it turned out that it would star Nicholas Cage for some reason. And he wouldn't be playing an Indian. (boom!) Then a few months ago I learned that it would be directed by John Woo. (crash!)

I've looked over the reviews and other associated sites in the hopes of some finding some more incisive statement of credibility than "Inspired by true events." which has about as much credibility as "Created by George Lucas." But so far it ain't happening.

It's ticking me off and Squire is already annoyed that I've made up my mind without seeing the movie. But it seems to me that if you're telling a story that's never been told before you stick to the fucking story and ignore that candy (war scenes) surrounding it. Ah...but this is John Woo we're talking about. And according to the rest of the movie-going planet (especially the folks who've seen the movie) the battle sequences are extremely well done. If only that were the reason that I had gotten interested in the first place.

At least the lead Indian is played by a real Indian. Adam Beach, is dancing precariously on being the generic red man for any movie, but it's hard to blame him. Name one Native American movie star. Right now. I dare you. Can't? Neither can I.

He's Saulteaux, group of Indian clans from Canada, and played a Coeur d'Alene in Sherman Alexie's wunderbar Smoke Signals (cute, really and cut through a ton of bs, but not as mighty a film as say, a war movie). But I was Really disappointed to read that the directors of Windtalkers told Beach not to smile so much!!!!!!!! The same damned thing he told Thomas in Smoke Signals!!! Not because it's good advice, just because it's what people expect from an Injun!! (the exclamation marks are cause in my head, I'm screaming)

but back to WWII code talkers. I don't know what the fuck the movie makers were thinking when they decided to focus on the white men in the movie rather than the red skins. Star power I guess. Christ...I wish I could remember the name of the book I read about the code talkers way back when. It was written for a junior high-level reader and was freaking brilliant just cause it cut to the chase.

Maybe they were thinking that everybody and his dog knows that the code talkers in World War 2 were Navaho and think that's all that's interesting about the story. The Navaho were so back-water that they'd never though about writing down their language and good ol' Uncle Sam figured out how to capitalize on that. But so few people know what a gamble it was on the part of one (white) guy who basically staked his career and, eventually, the US's success in the Pacific on the Navaho he recruited.

He (urg, can't remember his name) started out by inviting/begging/cajoling Navaho to abandon their families - sheep and cattle ranchers mostly, who never have enough hands - and risk their lives for a secret mission. Finally he got soemthing on the order of 17 men who knew English and Navaho and met the physical and age requirements to sign on. They went through basic training outside of San Diego, and while boot camp was tough they beat the shit out of their Marine Sargents on the survival treks. (The men were supposed to only have one canteen of water for three days. In the middle of the night the Navaho would sneak off and refill from the cacti a few hundred feet from the camps. The seargents were convinced they weren't human!)

They also had to spend classified time getting briefed on their mission - to integrate Navaho with English to develop an unbreakable code to be used on the front lines. At the time the US was using encryption machines that were high-tech (for the forties) but the Japanese were constantly breaking the code. This regularity had some folks suspecting moles, and the guy who had thought of talking to Navaho thought if they were all in on it and he knew them personally then it would be impossible for the Japanese to infiltrate. Not a bad plan really. what was particularly ingenious was the code itself. Cause it wouldt take too long to explain well and cause it was just too freaking complex I'm not really going to explain only to say that it was a dynamic code. The phrase for "battleship" wasn't always the same phrase (although the brilliance and hilarity really came out when they started translating - there was no word for "battleship" in Navaho prior to WW2).

The dark/cruel war comedy comes later when, because of the secretive nature of their mission several officers on ships in the Pacific were assigned men of Indian decent. But that's all they knew. There was no job description, there was No explanation for what they were supposed to do, and no one ever mentioned that these guys were there to work communications! Some captains wouldn't let their Injuns touch the radios! Often Johnny Red would be assigned to toting heavy things around and staying out of the way when the fighting started. When the radios started transmitting this weird foreign language that none of the communications officers could decipher they thought the locations the transmission was coming from had been overrun by the enemy. In some instances this resulted in premature reports of battle deaths.

(Why the movie is gonna tick me off - I seem to recall that since the Navaho got some special training beyond basic I believe they were awarded some honorary rank, albeit low. The Indians in the movie are listed as Privates. Now the entire premise of the movie is that these two white guys - Nicholas Cage and Christian Slater - are supposed to rescue/escort/protect this one Navaho during battle. A little hard to believe when the Navaho's roles were Top Secret. But then again, I don't know who assigned them. And maybe they get assigned after some of the more hilarious, although in a bleak kinda way, stuff happens. Because of the Athapascan features of many of the Navaho, several of them were mistaken for Japs in American service men's uniforms. Several of them. Sometimes repeatedly. One guy was taken prisoner three times by friendlies. So maybe that happens to our hero and that's why they called John Way---I mean, Nicholas Cage to save him.)

Lots of the men did have to resort to violence to save themselves and the companies they traveled with, sometimes with meritorious valor that, again because of the secretive nature of their operation, had to go unrewarded. Compensation was the same to their families as to families that lost boys who weren't doing special ops. And then to top it off they couldn't go home and tell anyone, because the code would remain classified until the late fifties (although it would also see use in Vietnam).

(oh, yeah, and what do you want to bet that the soundtrack is based on "traditional" Indian pieces. Like they only ever came up with three songs in their entire history, and never figured out how to sing normal solos. Sorry if I sound bitter, I saw the Sum of All Fears yester, and wanted to scratch my ears out with how predictable the music was. REALLY, does the music _have_ to cut to some Russian dirge everytime we get an ariel shot of Moscow?!?)


It just seems a shame to brush aside such a great story in favor watching a white guy dodge bullets and mow down legions Japs. Excuse me, but I've seen it before.

I hope it doesn't suck, but I'm not holding my breath.