"Smoke Signals" - Movie

Smoke Signals is not your typical Native American movie but there are some themes such as the way life works that are Native American themed, it’s about the sense of how in life everything you do has consequences. “Some children are pillars of ash, me and Victor were born of flame… and ash.” In the movie “Smoke Signals,” one other major theme is definitely Fire. The first fire that occurs in the beginning of the movie results in the death of Thomas’s parents and would have led to Thomas's death. Also if he hadn't been saved by Victor’s father Arnold Joseph. The first fire in the beginning of the movie is the center of the story; it is where everything begins. No one truly understands the mourning that Arnold Joseph went through and why he was so strongly affected by the fire. 

He mourned by cutting his hair, jumping into his yellow pick-up truck and vanishing to Phoenix; the truth comes out towards the end when Victor speaks to Suzy. Victors father Arnold Joseph was the one who started the fire that killed Thomas’s parents and this quilt remained with him till the very end of his own death, who in result became ashes himself. The second fire that occurs towards the end of the movie brings about the sense of closing a chapter in life and embracing a new beginning. It was important for Thomas and Victor to return to the roots of their distress, by doing this it allowed them to accept what happened and move forward. They were able return home from Phoenix with a sense of relief and closure, "Sometimes to go forward you have to drive in reverse."