

Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.
Direction
Woo's balletic violence in mud and blood
Acting
Adam Beach deserved awards, not oblivion
Editing
Studio hacked 30 min; still chaotic genius

Director
John Woo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Woo fought MGM for final cut; they shredded 30 minutes of character development. The Navajo co-protagonist became supporting.
Real Code Talkers were forbidden to speak their language in boarding schools—then told it won the war. The film barely scratches this hypocrisy.