Smoke Signals

790/791 7/9-23/98
When it comes to American Indians, Hollywood either trades in Injun stereotypes or dances with Disney. Forget that. Smoke Signals, written and directed by Indians, also casts Indians as Indians. "No Italians with long hair," says Sherman Alexie, 31, the Indian poet, novelist and short-story writer who brings a scrappy new voice to movies with his first screenplay. And what a comic, profane and poetic voice it is. Alexie risks pissing off the PC cavalry as he explores the humor and heartbreak of being young and Indian and living on a reservation ("the rez") at the end of the twentieth century.

The road-movie plot springs from several stories in Alexie's 1003 collection, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams), on-and-off friends since childhood and both now twenty-two, leave the Coeur d'Alenene rez in Idaho by bus and head for Phoenix to collect the ashes of Victor's father, Arnold, hauntingly played by Gary Farmer. Victor can't forgive the abusive, alcoholic Arnold for deserting him and his mother (Tantoo Cardinal) ten years before, Thomas can't forget how Arnold saved his life as an infant in a fire at home that killed Thomas' parents.

Cheyenne-Arapaho director Chris Eyre, a twenty-eight-year-old maker of short films in a striking feature debut, shows a keen eye for daily life on the rez. There are droll radio reports on weather ("It's a good day to be indigenous") and traffic ("Big truck just went by. Now it's gone"), Alexie knows the value of wit in deflecting an often stifling existence that eats away at self-esteem, family life and tribal traditions.

The contentious friendship of Victor and Thomas constitutes the core of the story. Well-placed flashbacks indicate how Thomas' knack for blurting out his thoughts has goaded Victor since childhood. "Hey, Victor," says the twelve-year-old Thomas after learning that Arnold has walked out on his family. "Your father left. What happened? Does he hate you?" Victor decks him for that one. He even tries verbal assaults. "I was wondering, Thomas," says Victor. "What color do you think your mother and father were when they burned up?" But Thomas, perpetually chirping, "Hey, Victor . . .," will not be dissuaded from questioning his friend on any subject that strikes him.

Everything about the smiling Thomas, with his geeky glasses, braids and nonstop storytelling, irritates Victor. On the bus to Phoenix, Victor tries to teach Thomas that being an Indian is not something you learn from watching Dances With Wolves. The point is to strike fear in the white man. "First, quit grinning like a idiot and get stoic," says Victor. "You've gotta look like you've just come back from killing a buffalo."

Thomas' transformation leads to a devastating encounter with two cowboys on the bus. "Find somewhere else to have a powwow," say the cowboys, who have stolen Victor and Thomas' seats. The Indians find new seats in order to avoid a fight, then try to retaliate by making up an insulting song about John Wayne's teeth. The scene shows just how foreign and hostile a country America can be to an Indian off the rez.

Beach and Adams give remarkable performances that grow in feeling and intensity. In Phoenix, Victor and Thomas meet Suzy Song (a tough and luminous Irene Bedard), the young woman who befriended Arnold and found his body. "We kept each other's secrets," Suzy tells Victor, though she does reveal one confidence that makes Victor see his father in a new light.

Smoke Signals doesn't pretend to solve the mystery between parents and children, or the clash between cultures that leaves Victor so angry and Thomas so eager to find stories that can heal wounds. No one listens to Thomas' stories. The same fate will not befall Alexie, who has crafted one of the best films of the year by finding himself in both Victor and Thomas and building something that will last.