Smoke Signal is a comedic movie made in 1998 about many tragic themes within Indigenous communities. The story begins on July 4, 1976, on the Coeur d’Alene reservation in Idaho when Arnold Joseph accidentally starts a fire in the family house, and he saves Thomas, his nephew. It’s an unknown fact that Arnold Joseph began to fire, so his guilt consumes him. Thomas thinks of Arnold Joseph as a hero for saving him as an infant and talks about him at any chance he gets. As a result of this guilt, Arnold becomes an abusive father and husband, an alcoholic, and leaves his family. Victor would loathe his father for all his faults and for abandoning him and his mother. Unfortunately, about 18 years later, Arnold Joseph dies abruptly, and his son Victor must receive his ashes and go on a journey of healing. Victor Joseph and Thomas go on this journey together and face many challenges to reach Arnold. As the story progresses, we can see a pattern of Indigenous struggles caused by settler colonialism such as: distrust, stereotypes, and intergenerational trauma.
Many Indigenous communities have a massive distrust of the United States Government and of outsiders in general. Despite this movie being a comedy, it still brings up such issues in a complex way while still being humorous. Before Victor Joseph leaves his mother, she begs him to promise he will return and not leave permanently. In an attempt to lighten the mood, he jokes by asking her, “What? Do you want me to sign a paper promising that I will come back?”. She sighs and responds, “You know how we Indians feel about signing papers.” Although this section of the movie is supposed to be humorous, it highlights the negative impact of settler colonialism by showing distrust towards signing a promise. Throughout history, we have made treaties with Indigenous communities, but we have often not kept our part of the bargain. This has caused an intergenerational distrust between the United States Government and outsiders.
While on the journey to Phoenix, Arizona, to pick up Arnold’s ashes, Victor and Thomas discuss what makes a person “Indian enough.” Victor criticizes Thomas for his nerdy appearance and tells him he needs to look brave and solemn. He says, “Get rid of your stupid suit and your dorky smile. You’re Indian; you gotta look brave and solemn like you hunt buffalo like our ancestors did.” Thomas responds, confused, “But our people were fishermen, not buffalo hunters.” As previously mentioned, stereotypes are a negative impact of settler colonialism, and this small dialogue shows how Indigenous people are stereotyped even within their community. Victor believes that Indigenous people must be tough to survive the world that they live in because he feels like the whole world has let him and his people down. While Thomas is still joyful and optimistic, despite the adversity in his life. Thomas often defies the stereotypes attached to being Indigenous, and Victor resents him for that and idolizes his father. To Victor, those stereotypes help Indigenous people stay strong, but in reality, those stereotypes cause a lot of harm within his community.
While Arnold Joseph was alive, he would often fantasize about a time before the white men. He would get drunk and list off all the things he wished he could make disappear. He states, “If I could use magic to make things disappear, I would use my hands to go poof! Poof, with the damn reservations! Poof to white men. Poof to my issues!”. Arnold is aware of the misfortune caused by settler colonialism and how it has impacted his people. He often blamed the White People for all of the misfortunes that had happened to him and his people. In a way, he is blaming the white settlers for the intergenerational trauma. Although, his actions can be explained by the trauma induced by settler colonialism. Everyone is in control of what they say and do; intergenerational trauma isn’t an excuse to be abusive, an alcoholic, or a deadbeat.
Despite being a comedy, the film deals with how settler colonialism has negatively impacted Indigenous communities in the modern world due to distrust, stereotypes, and intergenerational trauma. This film walks us through Victor overcoming many adverse side effects of settler colonialism with his friend Thomas. Overall, I would give this film a 4.8-star rating. The cast is the majority Indigenous, coming from multiple different tribes, ranging from Canada to the South West. I think for the period it was made in, they showed many issues that face Indigenous communities without being insulting. I think the film could go more in-depth on how settler colonialism impacted the modern Indigenous person, but it would be hard to do that for a family film.