'Smoke Signals': Story of Human Emotions - Movie Review Example

This shows that even though the movie tells the story of identity crisis that people from American Indian ethnic background go through, it also touches the dimensions of human emotions and conflicts. Hence, the movie ‘Smoke Signals’ is not just about American Indians but is about every human being, as it touches not only the conflicts related to social identity in relation to ethnic background, but also explores the nuances of human emotions and internal conflicts that are part of human relationships.

The key concepts The movie ‘Smoke Signals’ focuses on three key concepts of human life. The first key concept of the movie is the social identity and status of a person. The second key concept of the movie is the internal conflict that human beings go through due to unhappy and negative relationships in their personal lives. The third key concept of the movie is the misunderstanding between family members due to communication gap. The key concepts are explored through the main characters of Arnold, Victor and Thomas.

The movie is narrated by a character named Thomas, who witnesses the conflict between his cousin Victor Joseph and his father Arnold, i.e. Thomas’s uncle, due to Arnold’s addiction to alcohol and abusive behavior. . ter watching the movie, one realizes that the behavior pattern, thinking pattern and the lives of characters in the movie are shaped not by the external conditions but their internal reaction to the external conditions. Hence, the dominant key concept of the movie ‘Smoke Signals’ is the internal conflict born out of different aspects in people’s personal lives.

However, the movie reveals that not every human being is similar and hence, faces the conflict in different ways. This truth about human life is shown through different characters in the movie. The plot The movie begins with Thomas narrating the incident of his childhood where his and Victor’s lives are saved from fire that kills large number of American Indians who had gathered at one place to celebrate the independence of ‘white people.’ The words ‘independence of white people’ shows that American Indians consider this their loss and defeat at the hands of people from white ethnic background.

Hence, right from the beginning of the movie, one gets a feel that Arnold’s family, and other American Indians, are living a life of misery and suppression due to the disadvantageous social status. This social conflict is ingrained in the mind of Victor. Victor grows up being rigid and opinionated about how a true Native Indian should behave and look. His father’s negative financial, social and personal situation creates a conflict in his mind. Moreover, his father’s abusive and emotionally disturbed behavior creates great emotional conflict in Victor’s life and he grows antagonistic towards his father.

However, what really increases his conflict is his belief that his father saved Thomas from the fire and loves Thomas more than him. Victor believes that it was his mother who saved him from fire