|
During W.W.II, the Japanese kept
breaking confidential U.S. military codes, until several hundred
Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines and trained to use their
language as an unbreakable code. The film follows one such Marine
(Adam Beach) and his bodyguard (Nicolas Cage), whose assignment is
to protect the code at all costs: He's to protect the code talker,
unless he falls into enemy hands, whereupon he's supposed to kill
him in order to prevent the Japanese from learning Navajo. Also with
Christian Slater, Noah Emmerich and Emily Mortimer. [2:14]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - Men and women dance together. A man is
bare-chested while bathing in a lake and other men are shown
bare-chested in other scenes. A man talks about his wife and worries
about her being unfaithful. Men talk about women and make some
sexual remarks (a man talks about a woman asking him to join her for
a "weenie roast").
VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - There are many battle scenes that
include firefights from the ground and air, and from a distance and
in close-up. Many men are shot and killed and during hand-to-hand
combat men stab each other with machetes and knives (we see spurting
blood, torn clothing and flesh). Troops are ambushed and surrounded
by the enemy: they fight with guns and bayonets, one soldier has his
hand chopped off, two are bayoneted, three are shot repeatedly, one
is blown through the air by a grenade explosion, one is stabbed
repeatedly, and many more are shot (this is all accompanied by a lot
of screaming). Another battle scene takes place on the island of
Saipan and we see ships in the water surrounding the island, planes
fly overhead dropping bombs, tanks roll out firing, troops
run from trench to trench while firing and being fired upon;
explosions send men sailing through the air, and many soldiers are
shot while in foxholes and trenches (they jerk and flail from the
impact of the bullets). One man is trapped in barbed-wire and when
two other men try to free him they are all shot repeatedly, we see a
man in flames, a tank is destroyed by a flame thrower and a grenade,
a man gasps and gurgles as he dies (blood bubbles out of a large
hole in his chest), a flame-thrower fires at a turret and several
men on fire run out screaming. There are large explosions with many
men killed when ships fire at guns that are dug into the hillside. A
man's leg is shot off and we see him holding the bloody stump while
flailing and screaming. Troops in trucks, tanks and jeeps are hit by
friendly fire; a jeep is blown over and we see it and its occupants
in flames, a truck with men in it is blown up and drives off the
road. Planes fly overhead dropping bombs, causing explosions and we
see men being blown through the air. One man throws a knife that
hits another man in the chest, many men are knifed (we see blood on
one knife), one man is decapitated by a bayonet (we see his head on
the ground), a grenade is thrown into a group of soldiers who are
holding a hostage and they are all killed by the explosion (we see
bloody bodies lying on the ground). Troops walk into a mine field
and the enemy begins firing on them; the men scatter, some are shot,
some are blown up by mines (we see blood splattering when men are
hit), a man is shot and we see him with a bloody hole in his chest
and a bloody mouth (we hear that he dies). Two men fight with
punches and one gets hit in the head with a shovel, a man is grabbed
from behind and stabbed and many others are stabbed. A soldier in a
tree is shot, he falls and lands hard on a limb, then continues to
fall and is caught around the ankle by a rope and he dangles there,
dead. Two men hold each other at gunpoint and another man slits the
throat of one. A man picks up a wounded man and runs dodging gunfire
and a grenade explodes as they jump into a trench, presumably
killing them both. A man, trying to save a little girl, is shot in
the shoulder, the leg and then the tank of flammable liquid on his
back is ignited by a shot and bursts into flames (he flails about on
the ground screaming and another man shoots him). One wounded man
carries another wounded man toward a trench, they are both shot
again, a grenade explodes and knocks them to the ground; one man has
a bloody wound spurting blood from his chest. A man runs while being
fired upon and throws a bag with a bomb into a hole where men and a
weapon are dug in; the bomb explodes and sends men out in flames. A
bloody, dismembered limb lies on the side of a foxhole. We see a
photo of a dead man covered with blood and tied to a pole (we hear
that he had been tortured). A stream turns red with blood and we see
a man floating dead in the water with both knees blown off (we see
torn tissue). A man is kicked, shoved and punched repeatedly; he
then grabs his assailant's gun, shoots him and several other men. A
man holds a gun on another man, hits him in the chest twice and then
they fight with repeated punches to the face (one ends up with a
bloody mouth). A man punches a man in the face, shoves him to the
ground and holds a gun to his head. A man puts a gun to another
man's face. A man has flashbacks to a bloody battle scene several
times. Men bury dead soldiers in holes and mark them with crosses
and their dog tags (we see the bodies covered with tarps). We see a
military hospital with wounded soldiers; one man has a large scar on
his ear and down his neck, one man is missing his lower legs and we
see the bandages. A man imagines that he hears the screams of the
men who are buried in a graveyard as he walks through it. A man
talks about roasting human beings. There are racist and derogatory
remarks made to the Navajo men who join the Marine corps: a man
calls a Navajo a "slant eyed savage," a man talks about being
punished in church for speaking Navajo (he was tied to a radiator
for two days). A man talks about when people were paid $3.00 per
Comanche ear. A man quakes from pain. Troops enter a village to rest
for the night and the villagers are visibly frightened; one child is
in a great deal of pain from what appears to be a head injury (he is
bandaged).
PROFANITY 6 - 15 F-words, 29 scatological terms, 15
anatomical terms, 34 mild obscenities, 9 religious profanities, 7
religious exclamations, 7 derogatory terms for the Japanese. [profanity glossary]
DISCUSSION TOPICS - War, guilt, friendship, fear,
democracy, gambling, racism, hate, anger, spirits, demons, Navajo
ceremonies, hopelessness, trust, following orders, Catholicism,
responsibilities of command.
MESSAGE - Following military orders is not always the
right thing to do.
(Note: People are shown drinking alcohol -- a couple of times
to the point of drunkenness -- and smoking cigarettes.)
|
