Course 2 : ‘Smoke Signals’, the native American road-movie
Today is a good day to die…
We had the opportunity to watch a movie about Native Americans, a movie based on the novel : ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven’. Here follows a summary of it, and then let us have a deeper look at the movie.
The story centers around Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the-Fire on the Coeur D’Alène Indian Reservation in Plummer, Idaho. Thomas is the eccentric tribe storyteller and Victor is an assertive basketball player with a brooding disposition. The two young men are linked through Victor’s father, Arnold. Arnold rescued Thomas as an infant from a house fire that killed his parents. Consequently, Thomas considers him a hero. On the other hand, Victor, who endures Arnold’s alcoholism, domestic violence, and eventually abandonment, regards his father with both deep love and bitter resentment. Thomas and Victor grow up together as neighbors and acquaintances, fighting with each other and simultaneously forming a close, albeit uneasy, alliance.
When Arnold dies in Phoenix, Arizona, where he has settled after separating from Victor’s mother Arlene, Victor and Thomas embark on a cross-country journey to retrieve his ashes and belongings. The trip turns out to be a soul-searching endeavour for both men. Neither of them lose sight of their identity as “Indians”, but their perspectives differ. Victor is more stoical and pragmatic, and Thomas is more idealistic and traditional (and romantic to the point of watching the feature film Dances with Wolves countless times). This dichotomy continues all through the film and is the source of Victor’s irritation with Thomas. Once in Phoenix, Victor must confront his conflicted feelings toward his father, as well as his own identity. He also must grapple with information provided to him by his father’s friend, Suzie Song; namely, the true origins of the fire that killed Thomas’ parents. Arnold, drunk one night, accidentally shot off a firework into the living ro...