Windtalkers - Movie Review

The movie, Windtalkers, is a story about Navajo Indians serving in the Marine Corp during WWII. These particular Navajo Indians who served as American soldiers made a distinctive contribution to the war effort by working in combat zone communications transmitting critical battle information to fellow Marines of Navajo descent using an unbreakable code based upon their Navajo language. Without the help of the Navajo people, the Americans may have never of won the war. A key concept that is seen in the movie and that we have discussed in class is how the Navajo marines have dual identity.

The Navajo Marines accepted the offer that the United States Marine Corp gave them to be translators overseas in an effort to protect their people against outside threats. Though the Navajo saw the United States as outsiders who came on to their land and stole from them, they still respected the country they belonged to and joined up to fight the cause. When the Navajo fought the enemies on the islands of the Pacific, they saw their service as fighting to protect their tribe back at home. To be the modern day warriors defending their Navajo people such as their ancestors had done for generations against the white men and, before that, against other Indian tribes. Such as Winston tells about the Navajo melding cultures, “Assimilation and acculturation allow for many people to feel a sense of dual identity/citizenship. They feel both proud as an ‘Indian person’ and proud as an ‘American’.”

The Navajo Marines were a vital part of the American victory in the Pacific over the Japanese. The Marines who trained and accompanied the Navajo code talkers on their missions in the Pacific started out believing they were only packages who needed to be protected, used for their purpose, and eliminated if they were close to being taken into enemy hands. The Marines then saw the Navajo men as their Marine brothers and as equals in the messed up world they were