Smoke Signals (1998) on Netflix
Victor Joseph resents his father Arnold, who left the family on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. When Arnold dies in Phoenix, Thomas Builds-the-Fire offers to fund the trip to collect the ashes.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.2/1012,285 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Thomas Builds-the-Fire is an eccentric storyteller in oversize glasses on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Plummer, Idaho, where Victor Joseph is a hot-tempered basketball player who resents his father, Arnold. Thomas counts him a hero for saving him from the house fire in 1976 that killed his parents. Victor remembers the drinking, the violence, and the way his father left him and his mother, Arlene. When Arnold dies in Phoenix, Thomas offers money for the journey to collect the ashes, if he can come along. Victor is stoic and Thomas is traditional, a devoted watcher of Dances with Wolves, and his fascination with Victor wears on Victor's patience.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Smoke Signals (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Smoke Signals is recognized as the first feature-length film written, directed and produced entirely by Native Americans to reach a wide audience both in the United States and abroad.
- In 2018 the Library of Congress selected Smoke Signals for preservation in the National Film Registry, judging it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
- Cody Lightning, who had portrayed the young Victor in the original film, released the 2023 mockumentary comedy Hey, Viktor!, in which a fictionalized version of himself plans to revive his fading career by creating his own self-funded sequel to Smoke Signals.
- The film's ownership passed through an unusual chain of hands: after Filmyard Holdings sold Miramax to Qatari company beIN Media Group in 2016, it was that Qatari state-owned company that held the rights when Smoke Signals was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2018.
- The film is noted for its authenticity, both for its cast of Native American actors and actresses and because it was filmed on location on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho.
