| Movie review for Gran Torino. |
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| Written by David Delaney |
| Sunday, 28 December 2008 19:00 |
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Ever since seeing the first preview for this movie and you had to see it. Not because of how much I like Clint Eastwood, but because it was the very same car that my older brother owned just as I was getting my own drivers license. Being the great brother that he was, that Gran Torino and I had our share of time together too. I loved that car and the smell of the leather interior inside. I often wondered while sitting in that car, technology and labor to talk to build something so beautiful. Little did I know or understand that a curmudgeon like Walt Kowalski could work at a Ford plant and take so much care in a product. Well even though he is Clint Eastwood's fictitious character in this movie, Walt Kowalski is a reminder of parents and grandparents that on the surface may seem full of flaws, but may very well be grounded on a deep sense of decency and fortitude. In this movie, the retired Kowalski has just lost his wife, and by virtue of his crude character is losing his family around him as well. He is independent, keeps to himself, and seems resigned to live his remaining days suffering from some sort of lung disease without any assistance from anyone. He is a simple man, who gets caught up in a complex situation that tests his very character and the value of life as he knows it.
It all starts with his new neighbors who happen to be of Asian influence. You see, Walt is a Korean war veteran with a racist tongue and spares no language amongst his neighborhood, which is quickly becoming not so Caucasian anymore.  In the end, however, Walt Kowalski becomes closer to his new neighbors than he is his own family, by way of them being victimized and taunted by local gang members. In particular, he develops a connected relationship with the two younger members of the family Thao and Sue, who have learned to look past his racist slurs and actually invite him into their lives.It's this conflict with the gang members of the neighborhood is at the crux of the movie, and needless to say the Korean War veteran is not afraid of punk gang members. However, if you think this is the kind of movie where the hero gets all touchy and feely and everyone gets saved from the thugs, well it's not. And be thankful it's not - because it's part of what makes this movie so powerful, when in his own way, Walt Kowalski makes peace with his family, his deceased wife and a local priest that won't let him alone, while immortalizing his beautiful car that he himself built in the Ford factory - all in one night. It's classic Clint Eastwood, with music, a Gran Torino, at least half a dozen good laughs and a storyline pulled off superbly in a value packed movie. |
