I saw this movie in an English class in college. For an independent film, this is pretty entertaining, a story about two Native Americans in a reservation. Thomas is a nerd who tells stories in his reservation that no one wants to hear. He was saved in a fire by friend Arnold, who's son Victor is a tough, non-nonsense man. After Arnold dies, Thomas and Victor both hit the road to claim his remains.This movie has a pretty fast-paced plot, providing some exciting scenes. It is fun to see how Thomas would drive Victor crazy with his stories and his nerd-like characteristics.A drama mixed in with comedy and adventure, this is not a bad movie to pass the time on a slow day.Grade B

Spoiler ALERT"How do we forgive our fathers? Maybe in a dream. Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often, or forever, when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage, or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any rage there at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying, or not marrying, our mothers? Or divorcing, or not divorcing, our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing, or leaning? For shutting doors or speaking through walls? For never speaking, or never being silent? Do we forgive our fathers in our age, or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them or not saying it. If we forgive our fathers, what is left"? Nuff said.

I first heard about this movie from my 11th grade class, and I feel that the movie was pretty good for a movie about Natives. I really like the character Thomas in the movie. I feel that he had played an important role in the movie in the development of Vicktor. I liked how the movie was true to a single goal and had great scenes in the movie. Like Thomas's storytelling parts. Those scenes really made the movie epic in way. I had learn a lot about the Native American culture watching this movie. From this movie I had a great image of what real Native American are like. I am a fan of how the rest of the movie played out. I highly think that you should watch this movie and learn more about the Natives.

For years, thousands of the movies that produced by Western filmmakers presented Native Americans in a stereotypical way. They showed them a as warriors who are in a constant conflict with white people. These movies depicted Native Americans as savages, murderous defectors, and robbers. In general, these stereotypical movies showed the Native Americans in bad images, and the whites are always heroes. Yet, in 1998, a movie called "Smoke Signals" changed the style of Native Americans movies. It showed Native Americans in a more realistic way. The secret behind this movie is its cast. In fact, "Smoke Signals" written, directed, acted, and co-produced by Native Americans. The writer of this movie is Sherman Alexie who grew up on an Indian reservation in Washington. Unlike the writer a white family in Oregon adopted the director of this movie who is Chris Eyre. The actors of "Smoke Signals" include Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal, and others. Comedy and Drama are the main genres of this movie.The story of "Smoke Signals" is about two young Indians men grew up together on an Indian reservation in Idaho which is Coeur d'Alene. Although they grew up together, they have totally different personalities. Victor (Adam Beach) who is a son of an alcohol addicted father (Gary Farmer). His father vanished from the reservation to live in a trailer near Phoenix while he was a little boy. Actually, Victor has a tough personality. However, Thomas (Evan Adams) is the other Indian young man who lost his parents in a fire that caught their home on the 4th of July 1976 while he was a baby. In Fact, Victor's father saved Thomas from the fire. Thomas has a very kind personality, and he always annoys Victor by telling stories about the live on reservation and about Victor's father. After about ten years from the day that victor's father vanished, Victor heard that his father died in his trailer in Arizona. He wanted to travel to Phoenix to bring his father's ashes back, but he did not have enough money for this trip. His friend Thomas decided to help him with the money, but in return he wanted to join the trip to Phoenix. After Victor accepted Thomas' offer, they started their trip to Phoenix that was full of surprising events.There is no doubt that Chris Eyre was very successful in directing this movie. He was able to present the story by adding the sense of humor. The movie contains many funny scenes that convey messages. For instance, the scene that showed the two ladies who were in the car, that moves backward, asking Victor and Thomas if they got their passports to enter the states. Actually, this scene makes the viewer laugh. At the same time, it conveys how Native Americans feel about their reservations as an isolated part form the country. In addition, Evan Adams was amazing in his performance. The character of Thomas adds an important value to the movie, and helped in placing the sense of humor. Thomas' appearance and cloths were very funny especially his over-sized glasses. Beside his appearance, his accent played important role in attracting viewers' attention. Especially, the way he used to call Victor, "Hey Victor." However, this movie has a lot of flashbacks. In fact, all of them were well used. The character of Thomas as storytellers made the use of flashbacks vital in this movie. One of the interesting flashbacks is when Thomas was telling a story about how Victor's mother was able to feed one hundred Indians by fifty fry bread. Beside Thomas' stories, the flashbacks were very useful in showing the life of Victor's father in Phoenix, and how he felt about his son Victor.In general, "Smoke Signals" is a unique movie that produced by Native Americans. It shows the modern life of Native Americans on reservation, their values and beliefs. It also stresses on some issues that related to the history of Native Americans. Actually, "Smoke Signals" is a very enjoyable movie that must to see at least one. It is well written, acted, directed, and edited. On scale of five stars this movie deserves four stars.