On the Road, Indian Style

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

A father long lost to drink and mysterious shame has died. Attention must be paid by his angry, damaged son Victor (Adam Beach). A little odyssey to recover the body--and to achieve some sort of posthumous reconciliation--is arranged. Another youth, Thomas (Evan Adams), whose life the dead man saved and whose memories of him are much fonder, intrudes himself on the journey, which eventually brings the young mourners to a new understanding of their shared past and of one another.

Smoke Signals, which is adapted from some of his own short stories by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre, obviously wants to get at primal stuff. And in its little way it does. But the largest pleasure of this very small film, which is being promoted as the first feature largely created by Native Americans, lies in the relationship between its two young travelers. Off the reservation where they were born and raised, they present contrasting faces to the outside world. Victor wants to be silent, stoic, dangerously enigmatic--sort of an old-fashioned movie Indian. Thomas, who seems to be Alexie's surrogate, is, in contrast, a slightly nerdy puppy. And a motormouth, spinning funny, folkish tales, trying to humanize his wary friend and ingratiate himself with strangers.

The result is a shrewd portrait, sly, casual yet palpably authentic, of the principal ways members of any minority try to respond to an uncomprehending world. Each learns something useful from the other, and we, incidentally, learn something believable and warming about modern Native life and manners. Smoke Signals could be more complex and compelling narratively, but there's a sweet freshness in its voice that's worth heeding.

--By Richard Schickel