The Smoke Signals Forgiveness

The Smoke Signals Forgiveness

Smoke Signals, written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre, begins on July 4, 1976 on the Coeur d’ Alene Reservation. Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), drunk while celebrating the "independence", lit off a firework and set the Builds-the-Fire residence on fire, killing the parents of Thomas Builds-the Fire. Many people were already asleep in the house when the fire started, so no one saw Arnold’s mistake, which he kept a secret from the whole reservation. Both Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) and Victor Joseph (Adam Beach), Arnold’s son, were saved from the burning house. Arnold ran to catch Thomas in his arms after Thomas was thrown from a window.

Victor and Thomas grew up together. After the fire, Thomas was raised by his grandmother (Monique Mojica). Victor was raised by his father Arnold and his mother Arlene (Tantoo Cardinal) in a family that was falling apart. After the fire, Arnold turned to alcohol to bury the guilt of accidentally killing the Builds-the-Fire parents by burning down their house by accident. Arnold’s drinking was out of hand. Arnold’s alcohol ended up causing him to abuse his family. He hit both Arlene and Victor. Arlene was also a drinker, but she realized that their drinking became a problem and told Arnold to stop drinking. Refusing the order, Arnold chose to leave his wife and son and move to Phoenix, AZ. For the next ten years, no one was to hear from him ever again.

Growing up, Victor and Thomas didn’t get a long so well. Thomas was often annoying and Victor just wanted to be left alone. Thomas often talked of Arnold and Victor never wanted to talk about his deserted father. The last thing that Victor wanted to do was talk about the father that bailed on...

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...nts. The film moved in chronological order, so it naturally showed the different stages that Victor faced while dealing with his problems caused by his father. Seeing the sequence of events in this film could cause some of us to notice how similar situations in our lives relate to this.

It is this issue of forgiveness that is the most valuable from this film. The viewer can benefit from this by being able to notice how Victor got through his problems. If the viewer has problems of his or her own that are similar to this, then maybe the viewer can apply the film’s lessons to his or her life. The issue of forgiveness is the main point, but there are other great lessons and morals such as the importance of friendship, the danger of alcoholism, handling family conflicts, etc. Not to mention, there is a lot to be learned about Native American culture from this film.