'Windtalkers' Shoots for the Real Thing
NCM Online, Donal Brown, Posted: Jun 20, 2002
In a series of articles for the Navajo Times, Marley Shebala reports that “Windtalkers” director John Woo made every effort to consult Navajo leaders, Code Talkers and cast Navajos in leading roles.
Woo defused early criticism from the Navajo nation in a series of press conferences concerning the film which focuses on the crucial role of Navajo Code Talkers in World War II.
The Japanese had been able to break every code used by the U.S. until the Navajo Code Talkers provided secure communication that helped win the war.
Woo said that he wanted Navajos in his film because he never liked to see films in which white men or Filipinos played Indians. He auditioned about 400 Navajo young people but could not find anyone. He finally cast Adam Beach, a Saulteau from Canada as Pvt. Ben Yazhee.
Woo wants to show Yahzee and the other Indians in the film as real people rather than as the stiff, emotionless stereotypes. Said Woo about Beach, “I like him a lot. And I find this guy so charming, so innocent, so real. Especially I like his smile.”
Shebala reports that Beach admitted he had difficulties learning the Navajo language in the six months of shooting, but said it was a unique and beautiful language. He said he couldn’t master the clicking sound that is characteristic of the language. “I just tried my best to perform it as clear as can be,” he said.
Woo hired former Code Talker Association President Albert Smith as a consultant. This guaranteed that the film would not portray the Navajos and the Code Talkers in dishonorable and inaccurate ways, reported Shebala.
Much of the film’s drama is derived from the fact that some Code Talkers had body guards with orders to kill them if they were in danger of capture by the enemy. Woo said he wanted “Windtalkers” to be an anti-war movie. He said it shows how war can change an innocent man.
A novel based on the real experiences of the Code Talkers was released about the same time as the “Windtakers” premier on June 14. By Dory Peters, a full-blooded Navajo, the novel derives from the experience of Peters’ relatives as Code Talkers.
Peters said he hopes his book will complement the movie by offering a truly Navajo perspective on the events. The book depicts a Navajo family in the 1940s and how the decisions of the two sons to enlist change the family forever.
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