Compare/Contrast movie “smoke signal” with the book “Th

In the movie, Smoke Signals, two men from the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, take a journey to Arizona. The trip turns into a philosophical journey as much as a physical one.

The two staring roles of this movie and the book are the portrayal of Thomas and Victor. Victor potrays as a rough indian guy from outside but emotional inside.Thomas is a guy who follows his heritage.

Movie is the story of two Indian boys on a journey. Victor is the handsome son of an alcoholic father who has abandoned his family. Thomas is a goofy young man who lost both his parents in a fire at a very young age. Through storytelling, Thomas makes every effort to connect with the people around him; Victor, in contrast, uses his quiet countenance to gain strength and confidence. When Victor's father dies, the two men set on an adventure to Phoenix to collect the ashes. The movie shows the ties that bind these two very different young men and embraces the lessons they learn from one another.

Fire in the movie is made up and saving Thomas by Victor’s dad Arnold.Th

Alexie's stories are at once realistic and fanciful, for, when all is said and done, "everything is a matter of perception." Victor's father claims to be "the only Indian who saw Jimi Hendrix play at Woodstock," although Victor suspects "there were hundreds." His father doesn't mind. "What's real?" he asks. "I ain't interested in what's real. I'm interested in how things should be." The son takes a lesson. When his father later abandons both his mother and him, Victor dreams of a homecoming and stands on the porch all night long waiting, wrapped in his mother's favorite quilt and pretending to hear the missing motorcycle and Jimi Hendrix' guitar.

``Smoke Signals'' was written by Sherman Alexie, based on his book ``The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.'' He has a good ear for speech, and he allows his characters to refer to the real world, to TV and pop culture and the movies. (The reserved Victor, impatient with Thomas's chatter, accuses him of having learned most of what he knows about Indians by watching ``Dances With Wolves,'' and advises him to spend more time ``looking stoic.'')

``It's a good day to be indigenous!'' the reservation radio deejay tells his American Indian listeners as ``Smoke Signals'' opens. We cut to the station's traffic reporter, who scrutinizes an intersection that rarely seems to be used. ``A big truck just went by,'' he announces.

There's a particular satisfaction in listening to people talk about what they know well and care about. The subject isn't as important as the feeling. Listen to them discuss the ins and outs of an Indian specialty known as ``frybread,'' and you will sense what they know about the world.

The visions Alexie sews together in this new collection of short stories possess power--the power to "pick up the pieces of a story from the street and change the world for a few moments," or forever. They have "the power to teach, to show how this life should be lived." But they may lack the power it will take to save the storytellers from yesterday's exploitation, today's recession or tomorrow's bottle.

Some topics in this essay:
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