Windtalkers

The movie Windtalkers is a film based on the Battle of Saipan between US and Japanese forces for the island of Saipan. Historically speaking, I can say that the movie is pretty accurate besides the characters in it. The Battle of Saipan was a battle to gain control of the isle of Saipan and kick the Japanese out. The 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions we're responsible for all the land battles, while there was support artillery from the sea and whereever they set up ground artillery. In the movie we have the 2nd Marine Division landing on the shores of Saipan, backed by artillery support, to capture the island for utilization against the Japanese. The movie is called Windtalkers because the term windtalker is what they called Native American code talkers in WWII, in which case here are two Navajo men. In reality, Navajo code talkers played a key role in successfully relaying messages and directing coordinates for artillery fire that could be intercepted, but couldn't be understood or cracked by the Japanese. I believe Davidson and Lytle would take this movie as mythical instead of authentic. The Battle of Saipan wasn't even very accurately portrayed in this movie, to be frank the Japanese soldiers that were stationed in Saipan we're worn-out and wounded soldiers, not like the fierce fanatical fighters you see in Windtalkers. The real Battle of Saipan was some 30,000 poorly equipped Japanese soldiers defending against some 70,000 well equipped US soldiers with aircraft carrier and bomber support. The whole operation took less than a month to complete with obviously an American victory. However in the film, the Japanese soldiers are these very well equipped soldiers who, as Davidson and Lytle would put it, "(they shout alot and run around ineffectively)(WhenTrouble 423)."

The film is titled Windtalkers, however if you've seen the movie the two Navajo code talkers are just sideshows compared to how much attention they put on Sgt. Joe Enders. And just because of that the film loses a chance it could have had at being authentic, instead of telling a story or an account of these Native American code talkers, it decides to focus on Sgt. Joe Enders, the defender of the codetalkers. The battle scenes are quite action packed and intense, but a little too unrealistic. In the first battle scene with the slaughter of then Cpl. Joe Enders, as the last soldier is killed in front of Enders, Enders takes a brief pause and screams for a good minute, also the bullets have stopped coming, but after the end of his yell a grenade in slow motion
flies through the air and explodes in front of Enders. I think Davidson and Lytle would agree that this is a little too dramatic. Though there are some historical accuracy that Windtalkers displays, the other's are just plain inaccurate. This film could seem like an authentic piece, but I doubt Davidson and Lytle would agree on that.