For years, Hollywood movies portrayed Indians as bloodthirsty savages who deserved the genocide that the white people committed against them. Then, there was the "Little Big Man" and "Dances with Wolves" mold: going a little overboard on portraying them as virtuous, even if they showed what the white people did to them. With "Smoke Signals", Native Americans finally got to speak for themselves on the silver screen. The movie portrays young Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) traveling to Phoenix to retrieve the ashes of his deadbeat father (Gary Farmer). He has to travel with Thomas-Builds-The-Fire (Evan Adams), with whom he has never been particularly friendly, but they realize their friendship along the way.
Overall, this movie is like a kick in the groin to the John Wayne mold (the Duke even becomes the butt of jokes in one scene). Around the time that I saw this movie, I read Sherman Alexie's novel "Indian Killer"; it had the same sort of humor that this movie has. Strange that even after the indigenous people see their land stolen and most of their people exterminated, they can still laugh, but they can.
More than anything, it's just great that the Indians are finally getting their say in movies. Also starring Irene Bedard, John Trudell (happy birthday, John!) and Tom Skerritt.
Overall, this movie is like a kick in the groin to the John Wayne mold (the Duke even becomes the butt of jokes in one scene). Around the time that I saw this movie, I read Sherman Alexie's novel "Indian Killer"; it had the same sort of humor that this movie has. Strange that even after the indigenous people see their land stolen and most of their people exterminated, they can still laugh, but they can.
More than anything, it's just great that the Indians are finally getting their say in movies. Also starring Irene Bedard, John Trudell (happy birthday, John!) and Tom Skerritt.