The film Smoke Signals depicts the story of two young Native American boys, Victor Joseph and Thomas, and their journey that led them to wisdom. In 1976, Thomas’s parents died in a fire and Arnold Joseph the father of Victor saved Thomas. Victor Joseph’s dad then walked out on his family a couple years later. Now both young men are being raised on their reservation with no father figures in their lives. Thomas and Victor aren’t the best of friends, and they both have very different views about Arnold Joseph. Victor remembers the man who was an alcoholic, the man who was abusive at times, and the man who just got up and left his family one day. Thomas remembers Arnold Joseph as a great man who saved him from the fire as well as a heroic man and exaggerates his past. Victor gets word his father, who he hasn’t seen in ten years, has passed away. Victor not having enough money to travel to Arizona to get his father’s remains is approached by Thomas to pay for the trip only if Victor would bring him along. Their journey then begins. These two boys are very different, Victor the strong and manly type and Thomas the timid and nerdy type but this adventure brings them together more than ever.
In this film there are more than plenty hidden teachings in everything the characters do and in everything they say. A quote that really caught my attention is one from the end of the movie. “How do we forgive our fathers? Maybe in a dream. Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often, or forever, when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage, or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any rage there at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying, or not marrying, our mothers? Or divorcing, or not divorcing, our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing, or leaning? For shutting doors or speaking through walls? For never speaking, or never being silent? Do we forgive our fathers in our age, or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them or not saying it. If we forgive our fathers, what is left?” Thomas is saying this quote while white water rafts are raging down a river on the screen. What I believe the significance of Thomas saying this as the river rages is as he states all these things to forgive, and if the answer to the question is yes, to forgive, then it is just like the grudge that you once held washes away with the water of the river. The ending of Smoke Signals contains one of the most poetic and insightful statements about the nature of forgiveness ever put on film. This film also shows how even anger, alcoholism, and hurt cannot defeat love. Smoke Signals forced me to reach deep down into my psyches to explore my own personal experiences of forgiveness. It allowed me to see the two aspects that come along with forgiving someone, which are giving and receiving. After watching this movie allowed me to somewhat see the mistakes I was making in holding some grudges against some important people in my own life. When Thomas states, “If we forgive our fathers, what is left?” it immediately meant to me that if we forgive the people that seem to have hurt us before, only forces us to face the pain and reality of all the actions that took place between you and that person, and as human beings we have a hard time facing things that are hard to understand and that actually cause us to use what we feel in our hearts. It showed me what is left after facing the fear of forgiving, and well, to me I believe only the beginning is left. What I mean by this is if you go around holding up all these grudges on people and on things about something that happened in the past, that you cannot change, then all you are doing is just staying in your same old routine and you are doing it all by yourself. If you stop trying to change what has already happened, try to better what is yet to come, and forgive, then that will only open up so many more opportunities for you to learn what life is really about.
This movie allowed me to look within myself and see that I too was shielding myself from what I was not strong enough to face and forget about. I was not only forcing a great deal of unneeded burdens on myself but I was also causing the people around me to feel the tension of my grudges causing them to have one more thing to live with, in a world full of obstacles already. I even held some anger towards things that people did not have the power to prevent. After watching the film Smoke Signals I allowed myself to forgive my dad for having a disease. I forgave my mom for being strong enough to tell it how it is. I forgave my sister for never being there. I forgave my god for giving me the life he did and for all the struggles he has presented me with. I forgave my parents for forcing me to give up the things kids should do, to do the work of an adult around the house. I forgave my boyfriend for not understanding. I forgave the people in my life that just used me to get something for themselves. I forgave the people in the world for destroying themselves. Though, the one thing I could not forgive is me not doing whatever it takes to better the world and to better the lives of the people I encounter every day. For me being so selfish that I did not notice the pain everyone else is in. After seeing this movie the big things in life that seemed so important suddenly mean nothing compared to all the small irreplaceable things in life, and to hold a grudge because of something that I cannot change seems as one of the most selfish acts that I could ever choose to make. After seeing this movie I have a slightly better understanding on what exactly I should be focusing most of my energy on in life.
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