July 13, 2008

Red-Horse's codetalker film

TRUE WHISPERS: The Story of the Navajo Code TalkersOf all the untold stories from World War II that have recently come to light, none is more important or more poignant than that of the Code Talkers—some 400 Navajo youths, many boys really—who were recruited by the U.S. government to devise an unbreakable code in the language they had been forbidden to speak. TRUE WHISPERS explores the complex story of the Code Talkers from the Indian point of view and reveals the pivotal role they played in helping the U.S. Military forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Shot on location on the Navajo Reservation in remote parts of Arizona and New Mexico as well as in Washington D.C., and San Francisco, the film is written, produced and directed by Valerie Red-Horse and produced by Gale Anne Hurd in association with the Independent Television Service.True Whispers (2002)The Heroes of the War, 18 March 2007
Author: SRani from United States

This is an amazing documentary about the people of the Navajo nation.

The story is told through a series of interviews and vignettes from actual retired Navajo marines.

This is an uplifting and wonderful film--a must watch.
Comment:  I believe Red-Horse was developing this project at the same time as the big-budget movie Windtalkers. As I recall, she wanted to be the first to bring the codetalker story to the screen. Then there was a lot of talk about how there was room for two films and how her approach would be different. I believe she even wanted to use "Codetalkers," "Windtalkers," or a variation as the title of her film.

Eventually Windtalkers debuted and Red-Horse's film was nowhere to be seen. I gather she backed out of the "competition" between films and took a different approach. She apparently came up with a different name that didn't use "code" or "wind" or "talker" in the main title.

I never heard what happened to her film until now, when I accidentally came across this information. So here's the 411 on Red-Horse's codetalker film.

For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.

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