On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. For the next several years, U.S. forces were fully engaged in battle throughout the Pacific, taking over islands one by one in a slow progression towards mainland Japan. During this brutal campaign, the Japanese were continually able to break coded military transmissions, dramatically slowing U.S. progress.

In 1942, several hundred Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines and trained to use their language as code. In John Woo's Windtalkers, written by John Rice & Joe Batteer, Marine Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) - a Navajo code talker, the Marines' new secret weapon. Enders' orders are to protect his code talker, but if Yahzee should fall into enemy hands, he's to "protect the code at all costs." Against the backdrop of the horrific Battle of Saipan when capture is imminent, Enders is forced to make a decision: if he can't protect his fellow Marine, how far will he go to protect the code? The Navajo code was the only one never broken by the Japanese, and is considered to have been key in winning the war.

MGM's spectacular and emotional Windtalkers centers on the complicated relationship between the Navajo code talkers and their fellow Marines. As the Marines' brotherhood and faith in one another is challenged, John Woo's vision of war escalates into a vivid portrait of humanity and friendship in the face of incredible challenges.

The film will be released on June 14th, 2002, in conjunction with Flag Day. Directed by John Woo for Lion Rock productions, the film stars Academy AwardR-winning actor Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt, Roger Willie, Frances O'Connor, and Christian Slater. The film was written by John Rice & Joe Batteer and produced by John Woo, Terence Chang, Tracie Graham, and Alison Rosenzweig, with C.O. Erickson as executive producer and Caroline Macaulay and Arthur Anderson as co-producers.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

"What these men did is incredible," says Nicolas Cage. "I'm honored to have been involved in the film and help bring their accomplishments to the public eye."
Director John Woo adds that the story of the code talkers "is one of amazing courage. I feel privileged to be able to bring their story to the screen."

Windtalkers is different than Woo's other American features. In addition to its amazing action scenes and special effects, Windtalkers is a character-driven and emotional drama that recreates the 1944 Battle of Saipan with stunning and horrifying detail. At the heart of the lightning-paced combat, Woo explores the friendship that develops between Navajo code talker Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) and his designated guard Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage), a Marine already deeply scarred by the nightmare of war.

The theme of friendship and the film's complex and richly drawn characterizations drew the director and his longtime producing partner Terence Chang to the project. "I fell in love with the story the minute I heard it," Chang says. "It's so emotional, a celebration of the human spirit."

Producers Tracie Graham and Alison Rosenzweig agree. "Woo has created an important and poignant film that explores the complicated, intense relationship the Marines had with the code talkers," says Graham.

The history of the code talkers was also a rich foundation upon which to build a story. "Not only were they incredibly brave Marines," says Rosenzweig, "but they were also brilliant. They created this code based on their language, memorized it and never made mistakes."

Roger Willie portrays one of the code talkers in the film. Willie, a renowned Navajo artist and first-time actor, says, "The Navajo code talkers are sacred and precious jewels, and should be respected and treated as such." The story of the code talkers is sacred to Willie, and it was an honor for him to play one of his tribe's fabled heroes. "It means a lot to me and it's very emotional. I always viewed the code talkers as special people. I had never met one, but would see them from a distance in parades. They are our own heroes." Treated with reverence in the Navajo community, the code talkers have been relatively unknown in the rest of the United States. In Willie's estimation, "The movie presents an opportunity for the code talkers and the Navajo people in general to be exposed to the entire world."

Nicolas Cage adds, "I think it's immensely important for all Americans and the world to know that Native Americans took an active part fighting for our country."

John Woo assembled an exceptional team of behind-the-scenes talent to bring his compelling story to the big screen. As he had on previous films, Woo relied on the creative ingenuity of directory of photography Jeffrey Kimball, A.S.C., and editors Tom Rolf, Jeff Gullo and Steven Kemper. John J. Smith and Richard Stenta served as line producers. Production designer Holger Gross, costume supervisor Nick Scarano, and special make-up effects creator Kevin Yagher also contributed to Woo's highly stylized vision for the film. Additionally, military technical advisor James Dever and the Marine Corps were crucial in contributing to the reality of the film's military elements. The also features a score by renowned composer James Horner.

The twenty-week shooting schedule was filmed entirely on location in Hawaii and Southern California. Principal photography began on Monday, August 28th, 2000, with the most explosive and vast Saipan battle sequences shot at a privately owned ranch on the Windward side of the island of Oahu, not far from Honolulu.

The logistics involved in staging the film's authentic battle sequences were incredibly complex. As many as 700 extras were on set at one time - approximately 500 Marines and 250 Japanese soldiers - all of whom were hired locally. With these numbers added to the production crew of approximately 350, Windtalkers became its own battalion with a lunch tent catering to over 1000 people at a time on some days.
For more information on the film, visit www.MGM.com.

The Navajo Code Talkers

The idea of using the Navajo language to create a secure method of wartime communication is credited to Philip Johnston. Native American languages had been used before to encode messages during World War I, but Johnston knew how important it was that the military find a code that absolutely could not be broken. He was confident that the Navajo language was a perfect candidate for use in coding.

Johnston, the son of a missionary, grew up on a Navajo reservation and was one of the few non-Navajo able to speak the incredibly complicated and unwritten language. In 1942, once Johnston convinced the Marines of the language's usefulness, 29 Navajo Marines completed boot camp at the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. After boot camp they were sent to Camp Elliot (modern day Marine Air Corps Station Miramar) to develop the code. Eventually around 400 Navajo men were trained in the code's use and served as code talkers in the Pacific battles of the war.

During battle, the code talkers' primary objective was to facilitate communication on the battlefield, transmitting information over telephones and radios between Marine units and command centers about troop movement, orders, tactics, and other vital information. At Iwo Jima alone, the code talkers transmitted over 800 error-free messages in a 48-hour period. The Japanese were never able to break the code, and it became an indispensable tool for World War II military communication.

Because of its success and its possible use in future combat (the code was actually given limited use again in the Korean War), the code talkers were sworn to secrecy about their involvement in the war, and the code wasn't declassified until 1968. As a result, the code talkers' accomplishments went largely unheralded.
The 29 original Marine code talkers who developed the code were finally recognized and awarded Congressional Gold Medals by President George W. Bush on July 26, 2001. They are:

The Code

The code created by the code talkers used basic Navajo words to symbolize 211 common military and wartime words and phrases. For instance, the Navajo term for "whale" stood for "battleship," "iron fish" meant "submarine," "chicken hawk" meant "dive bomber," "big harvest" meant "August," and "one silver bar" meant "lieutenant." For language not covered by these code words, other Navajo words were used to stand for a letter of the alphabet. For instance, the Navajo words for "apple" or "ant" stood for "A," "barrel" stood for "B," "cow" stood for "C," and so on. There were multiple Navajo words used for each letter to make the code less uniform and much more difficult to break. Letter by letter, the code talkers could spell out words and phrases for which they didn't already have code.

The reason the code was never broken is because of the complexity and subtlety of the Navajo language. Just a slight change in pronunciation and/or inflection of a Navajo word can change its meaning. And because it's unwritten, there were no resources to which the Japanese could refer. In fact, it's estimated that only about 28 non-Navajos had a comprehensive knowledge of the language at the time of the war.

A few more examples of the Navajo code:

The Congressional Gold Medal

Congressional Gold Medals are the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow upon a specific individual, organization, or event. Established during the American Revolution, the medals are given as an expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. To be awarded, medals must be co-sponsored by 67 Senators and at least two-thirds of the Members of the House.

The "Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers Act" was passed in Congress on December 15, 2000. U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman wrote the plan for the bill that resulted in the code talkers being awarded the medals.

Past recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include President George Washington, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas A. Edison, the first successful trans-Atlantic flight, the Byrd Anartic Expedition, Irving Berlin, Robert Frost, Bob Hope, Winston Churchill, Robert F. Kennedy, John Wayne, Louis L'Amour, Frank Sinatra, General Colin Powell, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Rosa Parks.

Each medal is specifically designed for the recipient (or group of recipients), and the Secretary of the Treasury is the final judge of the design. The medals are made at the Philadelphia Mint.

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