Smoke Signals
I watched the movie Smoke Signals and enjoyed it very much. I liked seeing Gary Farmer, from Powwow Highway, again. I think he is a pretty cool actor. Anyway, Smoke Signals starts out on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation in 1976. One of the leading characters in the movie was Thomas. His parents celebrated America's Independence Day that year by throwing a huge party where everyone was suppose to bring their own fireworks. Gary Farmer, who plays Arnold Joseph in this film, ends up getting very drunk and mistakenly sets Thomas' parents house on fire while they were both passed out inside. The little baby Thomas gets blasted out of an upstairs window and Arnold miraculously catches him before he lands on the ground. We do not see this in the beginning, but Arnold also runs back inside to rescue his own son, Victor Joseph, who was the same age as Thomas at the time. Thomas says to Victor that they are children born of flame and ash. Thomas' parents died in the fire and he was raised by his grandmother. Arnold was so guilt ridden that he mourned the incident by chopping off all of his hair and vowing never to let it grow long again. Victor hated to see his parents drinking when he was young and
When he meets Sue Song in Phoenix she tells him that Arnold had spoken of Victor all the time, and he had talked about the fire everyday of his life. Victor has been carrying around a lot of anger, thinking his father just deserted him for no good reason. This happened when the boys were twelve years old. Victor is still skeptical and angry. Thomas was also disillusioned by Arnold, in the way that he was so interested in him as a child. He wished he hadn't run away and he wanted to go home. He takes off, abandoning his wife and son, never to return to the reservation again. Victor reminds me of Redbow, while Thomas is more like Gilbert from the movie Powwow Highway. After this vision Victor is a lot nicer to Thomas, and I think the experience helped him to realize everything Thomas had been telling him along their trip. I think since he saved him and had no parents of his own, asides from his grandmother, that Thomas respected Arnold, and saw him as somewhat of a father figure in his own life. One day Victor's mother gets a call from a Sue Song in Phoenix announcing that Arnold had died. But he had done one good thing - and that was to go back inside to save Victor. When the boys finally make it back to Idaho Victor gives Thomas some of Arnold's ashes. Victor finally decided to go inside his father's trailer and look around. He realizes how much his father had also meant to Thomas and can accept that as the reason why Thomas was always pestering him about his father when they were children.
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Acceptance Essays
