Kevin’s home decorations and taste in tattoo imagery show he also has an awareness of his Native heritage, which in turn suggests that, culturally and perhaps morally, he exists in a divided, conflicted mental space. And indeed, he says he can imagine himself going straight and building a normal life. Yet these words seem like wistful daydreams, while reality is pulling him in a darker, easier direction. His father, evidently having been betrayed too many times, damns him as a liar beyond the pale. “Even when he tells the truth, he’s lying,” Kevin Sr. bitterly scoffs.
Rob leads a similarly divided life, one that shows the unhappy destination that Kevin will reach if he continues on the same road. He’s the product of a ruinous upbringing, and here the reviewer must note one of the peculiar advantages of reviewing films on DVD. In a scene where the film very briefly glimpses a document concerning Rob’s criminal history, I paused the image and read the document’s detailed account of the sexual abuse he suffered as a child, and his subsequent misfortunes in being shuttled through a long succession of foster homes. While this history hardly justifies his criminal career, it does point to reasons he would have been involved with a criminal gang called the Native Gangster Disciples from an early age.
(A side note: Gang activity is alluded to frequently in “The Seventh Fire” but seldom shown. This is presumably because the filmmakers couldn’t gain access to other gang members that they did to Kevin and Rob.)
Up close, Rob seems a solid guy, never malicious or overtly menacing. Photos of him in Native costume as a young man suggest pride, geniality and hopefulness, qualities which have been hardened but not erased by the time he’s facing his fifth trip to prison, for a stay that will keep him inside for over two years. When we follow Rob into the joint, we get to see a facet of his personality that we’ve only heard mentioned before: He’s an aspiring writer, and his words have the power of conviction and a keen awareness of his life’s tremendous challenges and painful lessons.
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