In my ENG 375 course, we watched Smoke Signals, a movie that Sherman Alexie wrote. The movie has a lot of the same features as Absolutely True Diary: a focus on humor, problems with alcoholism, and trying to establish an identity as a person. The performances are very good all around, and the movie is touching.
I also noticed some aspects of the storytelling that we've been discussing in relationship with American Indians. Many different narratives from different times are interwoven seamlessly into the movie. Past and present shift as the story determines they need to. Also, there is a lot of flexibility about the "truth" of stories. One of the characters is constantly telling stories, many of them false, but they always help get a point across that needs to be made. Sometimes, truth, in the universal sense, trumps truth, in the factual sense. There is also a strong theme of metaphor used to help people make sense of their worlds. All in all, it's interesting to see American Indian storytelling on the big screen and compare it to what we get from Western filmmakers.
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I really enjoyed Smoke Signals too. It touched on pretty much every issue we've discussed in this class--stories, land, assimilation, resistance, spirituality, gender, etc. I particularly liked the self-awareness of the characters, how they would make little jokes about N.A. characteristics and stereotypes (i.e. "I think that was a fine example of the oral tradition" and the radio station guy).
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