Smoke Signals Dialogue

Smoke Signals seems to be a successful film based exclusively of Native American Persons. The film explores the relationship between Victor Joseph and Thomas, which is important aspect of this film and what I chose to discuss for this writing.
In the beginning of the film, Thomas’s grandmother says to Victor’s mother that “Victor is a good name, because it means he’s gonna win.” I feel this is truly an inspiring part of the movie. The other scene is also in the beginning of the movie where Thomas says, “You know, there are some children who aren’t really children at all, they’re just pillars of flame that burn everything they touch. And there are some children who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart if you touch’em. Me and Victor – we were children born of flame and ash.”
The movie Smoke Signals, is written by Coeur D’ Alene Sherman Alexie and is based on a short story collection, which includes The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. For the purpose of this week Smoke Signals will be the focus of topic. The movie depicts a journey from Coeur D’ Alene reservation in Idaho to Phoenix by two teen-aged Indians, Victor Joseph and Thomas, they are headed to Victor’s fathers trailer because he has just died and Victor is returning his ashes to the reservation. This journey shows how the boys move from the reservation into the United States facing discrimination and stereotypes along the way head on. In my opinion if I may, we have all had points to make and scores to settle the Native Americans are not singled out. I think this film mirrors reality but is not overwhelming with sociological critiques.
Thomas, who Victor regards as a pest, begs to be taken along, this is basically where their relation to each other develops the central make up of the movie. Thomas is looked at as somewhat of a nerd, eccentric, a smiling young man on the reservation, the girls laugh at him, but Thomas Joseph allows him to accompany his travels. At one point in the film there is a scene where, Victor requests Thomas to “get stoic, undue his braids and lose the suit.” Thomas certainly is a complex character in the film, which blends traditional American Indian traits and contemporary American ones. An example, Thomas unties his braids at Victor’s request and puts on a T-shirt that says “Fry bread Power.” I think this is when it shows him transition in his character from the traditional to the contemporary American Indian. Thomas seems to serve as a spiritual guide for Victor. Thomas seems to be portrayed as a threat to white culture with a storytelling fetish but yet an extreme need to tell the truth.
I noticed this movie is built on honesty, partly due to the location being on a reservation and the other the way the characters are portrayed and develop and unfold in the movie and that truth is depicted much the same way that time is treated by American Indians. There is a particular scene of the movie, which I believe is the line between truth and lies that is powerful in this movie and also prior to the boys leaving where Sonya Song, Thomas Joseph’s ex-girlfriend says, “Do you want lies or the truth?” and he responded by saying, “I want both”, to me this shows a little tricky type of a character in him. Thomas seems to represent traditional Indian values, but it seems he has little concern about whether his stories are truth or not. Such as when he lied to Sonya about Victor hitting a winning shot, but in reality he missed the shot and lost the game. These stories he told seem to be a theme of the movie for his character.
Victor and Arnold are brought together through Victor’s father, who rescued Thomas as an infant from a house fire that killed his parents, so Thomas considers him a hero. On the other side, Victor has to endure his alcoholism, domestic violence and as I will discuss again later abandonment from his father, he has deep love and bitter resentment toward his father for these things. The boys grow up together as neighbors, fighting each other and at the same time forming a close alliance. Victor being the stoic and pragmatic one and Thomas more idealistic and traditional, this shows in the film as Victor’s irritation with Thomas and Thomas’s fascination with Victor. They both are true to their identity as Indians but their perspectives differ throughout the movie although the trip seems to be a soul-searching endeavor for both of them. Arnold, Victor’s father dies in Phoenix where he lived after leaving Victor’s mother Arlene this is what leads to the journey that the boys will embark together cross country to retrieve his ashes and belongings.
Continuing into the relationship of Victor and Thomas there is a scene where they are heading back to the reservation in an old truck which belonged to Thomas’s dad and they have a heated argument. Thomas shows aggression and yells at Victor telling him that he doesn’t know who he is and accuses him of making his mother cry although most of the time they are cordial and Victor always seems enthused to hear Thomas’s stories. There are several scenes that show a very abrasive and confrontational relationship between the two of them. There is also a great deal of humor in the movie that seems to be a way the movie uses this to show the characters connecting with people who have nothing in common.
I must mention a particular funny scene where there was a moment in the end of the film that Victor and Thomas were praised for their bravery because they witnessed a drunken driving accident. I mention this particular scene because it caught my attention that the nurse said, the two of them are like the lone ranger and tonto and Thomas corrects the nurse by saying, “No, we’re more like Tonto and Tonto.” As though it is depicted to show how American Indians do not always stick together. I also see this throughout the film by how Victor in the beginning wants nothing to do with Thomas and that he may even be using him for his money because they argue and fight throughout the film. It is also said in the movie that “the most intense competition on any reservation is Indians versus Indians.”
This movie is a true journey between two different types of men who form a comradeship as Victor finds the healing he needs to forgive his father. We see flashbacks of both of these men’s lives throughout the movie, which to some extent threw my attention off a little; although it also reminded me to pay attention that I am not doing this in my writing as I generally do. I also see that these flashbacks give a vivid idea of how events throughout their lives affected them in their present. The scene I will point out that shows this is when Victor remembered a party his parents had when he was a child that leads to his father leaving and his mother to stop drinking. My belief is that these flashbacks are showing a gradual view of what happened in these boys lives and it gives us a way of connecting to the movie. This gives comfort to the movie but it also tells the story of accepting whatever fate has handed to these boys.
The final scene of the movie is what ties it altogether for me, Victor finally poured his fathers ashes into the river and during this moment we hear his words and message of forgiveness which seems to be that the movie is not only about honesty as I believed in the beginning but also about forgiveness, he thanks Thomas for his support and wisdom, I think this is where the movie shows an understanding of a more tangible and meaningful relationship between Thomas and Victor. I also felt a sense of redemption towards Victor’s feelings of his father and also of his own identity and a way he could separate from his abandonment of his father.