La véritable histoire de Windtalkers !

Windtalkers is directed by John Woo and released in 2002. The film is inspired by historical materials and tells the story of Navajo Indians recruited in the US Army during World War Two.

Code talkers were soldiers in charge of transmitting encrypted messages. The film explores the story of these not-so-ordinary soldiers and their crucial role in the war.

The movie provides an opportunity to learn about Navajo code talkers and examines the historical accuracy of the film's portrayal of events.

The film will be analyzed for its historical correctness and its representation of the Navajo soldiers' experiences.

• The film is set towards the end of World War Two from the American side • Americans were engaged in war against the Empire of Japan since the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 • The attack was a Japanese response to the embargo on gas and steel set by the United States and Netherlands since July 1941

• The Pacific Ocean was the theater of high-scale military operations aimed at conquering Pacific isles and destroying enemy military installations • Americans sought to control trade routes to stop Japan from supplying the many archipelagos it controlled • American submarines systematically struck Japanese commercial convoys and asphyxiated the Japanese economy

• Two Navajos: Ben Yahzee and Whitehorse, recruited directly from their reservations • Two white soldiers: Pete 'Ox' Anderson and Joseph 'Joe' Enders, the latter a war-wounded soldier who lost his entire squad during the Solomon Isles battle

Ben Yahzee and Whitehorse were trained to learn the Navajo code based on their mother tongue, which was incomprehensible to Americans and Japanese alike. Each Navajo was partnered with a protector and sent to protect the code at all costs.

The code talkers were sent to Saipan, an island in the Pacific Ocean in the Marianna Islands, where the use of the code proved particularly useful, allowing the Americans to advance more efficiently.

• Joe is forced to kill Whitehorse to save the code • Ben Yahzee turns against Joe, hesitating to kill him • During an ambush, Ben Yahzee acts rashly, blinded by anger and revenge, and charges alone against Japanese lines

Both Ben Yahzee and Joe are hit during the ambush but manage to call for decisive aerial support. Ben Yahzee asks Joe to kill him to protect the code, but Joe refuses, sacrificing himself to save his partner.

Ben Yahzee returns home to his family and pays homage to his protector fallen on the field. The movie ends with an epilogue explaining the crucial role played by the Navajo code during the Pacific war.

• The Navajo code was inspired by real facts and actually existed • Philip Johnston, an American engineer who lived amongst a Navajo tribe with his missionary parents, proposed the idea in 1942 • Johnston convinced Lieutenant-Colonel James E. Jones, the communication officer of the Signal Corps, of the utility of this code

• 29 Navajos were initially recruited to create the code • In total, 421 Navajos were trained and sent to the Pacific during the conflict • They served in each of the 6 Navy divisions on the Pacific, in special forces, and in paratroopers

• Military units not associated with words in Navajo were designated by common words in their language • Examples: a 'tank' is a 'turtle', a 'grenade' is a 'potato' • The code's efficiency was incredible because it was gibberish to the Japanese who had never heard the language before • A Navajo could translate a message almost instantly, while machines took tens of minutes

• The Navajos were not the only ones used for linguistic skills during World War Two • Comanche were used in Europe, Meskwaki in North Africa • Creek, Lakota, and Pawnee soldiers played similar roles • During World War One, Comanche and Choctaw were used as radio operators during the Somme and Meuse-Argonne offensive

• A racist soldier named Chick humiliated and fistfought his Navajo countrymen, claiming he 'mistook them for Japanese' • The presumed physical resemblance between Navajos and Japanese led to prejudicial situations for American soldiers • In the film, Ben Yahzee disguises as a Japanese soldier to deceive the enemy, but in reality, this proximity was much more of a drawback than an advantage

• Some Navajos suffered from friendly fire • Some were captured by their own colleagues and questioned as if they were enemies • Many Navajo soldiers had to be accompanied by non-Navajos at all times to avoid trouble

• Many Native Americans were not integrated into American society at the time • During World War One, the first code talkers enlisted in exchange for American citizenship • Native Americans were not considered citizens and only granted citizenship in 1924 to reward them for their World War One service • In the 1940s, it had barely been fifty years since wars with Native Americans ended; many tribes were deported or exterminated during the 19th century

• Native Americans suffered from poverty and segregation in the early 20th century • Many were confined to reservations where they were forbidden to speak their native language at school • Despite this, the film shows Navajos living in the Monument Valley, when in reality they lived in reservations far from ancestral lands or in slums with constant fear and racism from police and the rest of the population

• For the Navajos, traveling was entirely new; most had never left their reservation or slum • The vast majority had never taken the bus, train, ship, or plane • Most had never seen the ocean before

The Navajos knew almost nothing of the conflict they engaged in but did it to protect their lands—specifically the lands of their tribes and reservations, not America as their motherland.

The film shows Ben Yahzee as embodying traditional American values and extreme patriotism, naming his son George Washington, which differs from the typical Navajo soldier's actual perspective and priorities.

Ben Yahzee mentions physical punishment he received as a child for speaking Navajo at school, a language that was forbidden in class but ironically became necessary in wartime.

• The Battle of Saipan was a real battle that represented everything the Americans hated about the conflict • The terrain was awful with dense jungles and caves used as bunkers • The island was very well defended and objectives fixed by the Americans were mostly impossible to reach

Although the fights were difficult and the advance slower than anticipated, the role of the Navajo code talkers was decisive, as shown in the film.

• In the movie, the Americans win multiple battles and enter a local village where civilians are terrified but treated kindly • Good Joe gives a child water to drink, and another soldier gives a girl a chocolate bar

• Japan had put in place effective propaganda aiming to make Americans appear as bloodthirsty monsters • Americans struck Saipan and found it hard to differentiate civilian villages from military positions, causing many civilians to suffer from attacks • The Imperial government gave the same privileges to civilians killed in actions and to soldiers, so many civilians fought instead of surrendering • Most civilians preferred to take their own lives by jumping off cliffs rather than surrender • The loss of Saipan forced the resignation of the ruling Japanese government and considerably weakened Japanese military positions

Following the end of the war, the Navajos returned home and reunited with their families and everyday lives.

• The privileges granted to Navajos in the army for their crucial participation did not survive the war • Most American veterans earned advantages, but Navajos often could not enjoy them • Banks refused to lend them money as Natives lacked the administrative papers necessary to assert their rights

• Their role was not immediately acknowledged; families did not know for a long time what role they played during the war • Code talkers were also used during the Vietnamese and Korean wars • The Navajo code project was only declassified in 1968 • Richard Nixon thanked the Navajos for their patriotism and courage in December 1971 • Congress truly recognized their achievements only in 2000, while other tribes like Choctaw and Comanche had to wait 8 more years

In the movie, Joe receives a medal for the plan created with Ben Yahzee's help, while Ben Yahzee is never decorated, reflecting the real-life lack of recognition for Navajo soldiers.

• The film's climax shows Joe forced to kill his code-talker to save the code • However, the movie never explicitly states that Joe had to kill him, and he does so with the implicit agreement of Whitehorse • In reality, this order was much more explicit and brutal than depicted

• The movie Windtalkers had financial support from the US Army • The Army likes distorting reality to give themselves a more positive image • The Army asked that the order to kill the code-talker should never be explicit to avoid giving the army a too negative image

• Japanese civilians appear as scared and US soldiers as saviors, although reality was entirely different • The story shows a heroic soldier who kills the first code-talker only because this one agrees to it, and refuses to kill the second one to redeem himself • Stars and Stripes appear everywhere in the film • The American soldier is portrayed as a hero and the Indians as wanting to fit into America at all costs

• The movie came out while the USA was deep in Iraq wars • The Pentagon's implications in Hollywood's war movies served to convince hesitating people to enlist in the US Army • The film portrays Navajos as secondary characters in a movie where they are supposed to be the heroes