Smoke
Signals is a story of a man wanting to move forward, but his past is holding
him back. The main character is Victor who
holds a lot of suppressed anger and resentment towards his father, Arnold.
When Victor was a young boy, his father abandoned him and his mother,
making himself "disappear". This left Victor with many open
wounds that followed him into his adolescence. Apart from that, Victor
holds a grudge towards Thomas, the young boy whom Arnold saved during the fire
that killed his parents. Thomas is very blunt and straightforward,
although he does not intentionally mean any harm, an in reality only wishes to
help Victor. His comments hit Victor like a ton of bricks, which causes
many disputes between them. Although Victor cannot forgive his father,
they share many similarities. They both view the white man as the enemy.
Arnold wants, "the white people to go back to where they
belong". On the bus to Phoenix, Victor tells Thomas that; "you
can't trust anybody" and that people will, "rob you blind if you're
not watching". Although these statements come off as rude and
disrespectful, Victor is proud of his Indian heritage. He tells Thomas that, “Indians aren’t supposed to smile…you
gotta look like a warrior, like you just came in from killing a buffalo." Thomas wants to think of himself that way,
when in reality he is quite the opposite.
The two cowboys in the bus steal his seats and although Victor initially
confronts them, he backs down and moves to another seat.
Victor has a soft spot for his
mother, and she is probably the only person that he listens to throughout the
movie. While his mother is making her
famous fry bread, Victor massages her hand.
He discusses the possibility of bringing Thomas with him on the journey,
but is reluctant. Victor’s mom responds,
“People say I make the best bread in the world.
But I don’t make it by myself”.
The secret recipe has been passed on for generations. She tries to tell him that everyone can use a
little help. Although he doesn’t realize
it yet, Victor needs Thomas’ help.
Thomas and Victor hitch a ride with
two girls. They drive them to the end of the Indian reservation. What makes this ride interesting is that the
car is driving backwards which leads me to believe that Victor needs to go
backwards in order to move forward.
Thomas is the storyteller of the
movie. His stories always seem to
revolve around Arnold and always speak something favorable of him. Thomas is forever grateful to Arnold because
he saved his life. Thomas reveals to
Victor about that time that Arnold took him to Denny’s. It is interesting to see that Arnold is very
nice to Thomas while neglecting his own son.
Victor only seems to remember the bad things about his father; a drunk
who beat his mother and left their family.
Victor is so fed up with the life he has lived. He was tired of seeing his parents drunk and
throwing parties. As a result, Victor
smashes beer bottles on his dad’s pick-up truck. Victor’s mother wants to change because she
notices that this lifestyle is damaging her son. Arnold storms out and leaves, which makes
Victor, feel responsible for the abandonment, although he does not want to face
it.
When arriving to his dad’s trailer
home, Victor listens in on stories about his father from Suzy. Suzy tells Victor that his father spoke about
the time Victor scored the inning basket.
Arnold states that Victor “was like a magic. He flew like an Indigenous angel. It was the Indians versus the Christians that
day and for at least one day, the Indians won”!
Arnold glorified his son and thought about going home everyday. At this point in the story, we get a better
sense of the man that Arnold was. It was
very endearing to see the picture that he carried in his wallet with the word
“Home” written on the back. 
Thomas tries to get Victor to see that
his father was not an entirely bad person.
Thomas wants Victor to, “quit feeling sorry for yourself”. Thomas tells Victor that maybe, “you don’t
know who you are!” After the argument,
Thomas and victor avoid an accident. A drunken
man has hit two women, leaving one fatally hurt. Victor runs for help and does not stop until
his legs give out and he falls to the ground.
Victor sees the image of his father helping him up from the ground. This comes to show you that Victor has begun
the process of forgiving his father. On
heir way home, he tells Thomas if he could hold his dad’s ashes. He shares some of the ashes with Thomas, who
shares his intentions of throwing the ashes into the river. Victor agrees saying that in doing so would
be like, “"cleaning out
the attic—like throwing things away when they have no more use." In the last dramatic scene, we see Victor
screaming and crying after releasing the ashes into the water. He has finally let go of all that anger and
pain that he’s felt for so long. In “cleaning
out the attic”, he’s cleaned up his past in order to make more room for his
future. 
