As Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood takes you straight to the heart of a hard-working, honest as hell, decorated Korean War veteran who works as hard to contain his seething rage as he does to maintain his patch of lawn in a crumbling Detroit suburb as he does to take care of his 1972 Gran Torino. He's an old man who has worked hard to do right by his family since he came home from the War with a Silver Star and the deep psychological wounds it might at glorify if it wasn't in a box in the basement.
Walt came home knowing how precious life is; he doesn't mess around even while so many of the people around him--including his children--do.
The movie opens at his wife's funeral. The repast back at the house gives us a glimpse of his unlovely, unloving family who barely disguise their disinterest in and disrespect for him. To his grandsons, he is a mere curiosity whose Silver Star and other wartime memorabilia in a box in the basement are fun to sneak a peak at. To his granddaughter, he is an old man who won't die soon enough to leave her the Gran Torino and maybe some furniture for her dorm. To his sons, he is a bore, an obligation they'd like to stuff in a retirement home and forget about completely.
Beside him live a large Hmong family whose affection for and support of each other stand in stark contrast to the quality of Walt's family life. There is love in that house that ultimately spills over and touches Walt's life, even if he's not so happy about it at first.
Ironically, that family wouldn't be there if it weren't for US involvement in conflicts in their part of the world. They were not the enemy but the ally. It takes Walt a while to see that, though. When Thao, a teenaged boy who lives there, tries to steal his car as a condition of inititation into a gang, he's the enemy. When his sister Sue tells him Thao will work for him for free to make amends and restore the family's honor, he begins to see that. A relationship between Walt and Thao and Sue develops that defines loyalty, commitment, honor--in short, everything a family should be.
If Walt has to get over his anger at Thao for trying to steal his car, Thao and his family have to get past Walt's racist attitudes. He has no compunction about calling the family gooks and zipper heads and slopes.
Curse words and racial slurs are as natural to Walt's way of speaking as nouns and verbs are to the rest of us. He has no problem about calling a bunch of African-American thugs loitering on a corner and harassing Sue spooks any more than he minds calling her a gook.
The name-calling was nothing alongside the meanness of the streets that was as much a part of Walt's life as the pain he brough home from the War. Eastwood's character all but explodes on the screen. He marshals every bit of strength he has--and he has plenty--to contain himself when he is angry with the petty thieves and the gang punks undermining the quality of life in his neighborhood. When that rage manifests itself in a racial epithet or a hard look, this is understatement at its very best. And it is frightening.
In the end, Walt satisfies his wife's dying wish that he attend Confession. And then he makes of himself a sacrfice for the children he loves by bringing justice to the petty gangsters who compromise freedom with their thuggery. In the end, somehow, America works. In the end, it is not glorious but sad. And strangely beautiful.
Walt came home knowing how precious life is; he doesn't mess around even while so many of the people around him--including his children--do.
The movie opens at his wife's funeral. The repast back at the house gives us a glimpse of his unlovely, unloving family who barely disguise their disinterest in and disrespect for him. To his grandsons, he is a mere curiosity whose Silver Star and other wartime memorabilia in a box in the basement are fun to sneak a peak at. To his granddaughter, he is an old man who won't die soon enough to leave her the Gran Torino and maybe some furniture for her dorm. To his sons, he is a bore, an obligation they'd like to stuff in a retirement home and forget about completely.
Beside him live a large Hmong family whose affection for and support of each other stand in stark contrast to the quality of Walt's family life. There is love in that house that ultimately spills over and touches Walt's life, even if he's not so happy about it at first.
Ironically, that family wouldn't be there if it weren't for US involvement in conflicts in their part of the world. They were not the enemy but the ally. It takes Walt a while to see that, though. When Thao, a teenaged boy who lives there, tries to steal his car as a condition of inititation into a gang, he's the enemy. When his sister Sue tells him Thao will work for him for free to make amends and restore the family's honor, he begins to see that. A relationship between Walt and Thao and Sue develops that defines loyalty, commitment, honor--in short, everything a family should be.
If Walt has to get over his anger at Thao for trying to steal his car, Thao and his family have to get past Walt's racist attitudes. He has no compunction about calling the family gooks and zipper heads and slopes.
Curse words and racial slurs are as natural to Walt's way of speaking as nouns and verbs are to the rest of us. He has no problem about calling a bunch of African-American thugs loitering on a corner and harassing Sue spooks any more than he minds calling her a gook.
The name-calling was nothing alongside the meanness of the streets that was as much a part of Walt's life as the pain he brough home from the War. Eastwood's character all but explodes on the screen. He marshals every bit of strength he has--and he has plenty--to contain himself when he is angry with the petty thieves and the gang punks undermining the quality of life in his neighborhood. When that rage manifests itself in a racial epithet or a hard look, this is understatement at its very best. And it is frightening.
In the end, Walt satisfies his wife's dying wish that he attend Confession. And then he makes of himself a sacrfice for the children he loves by bringing justice to the petty gangsters who compromise freedom with their thuggery. In the end, somehow, America works. In the end, it is not glorious but sad. And strangely beautiful.
3 comments:
You have done this movie Justice in your review!
I love Clint Eastwood ... and although I haven't seen this moving, I will soon!
You are a very good reviewer, better than the reviews I read in the newspaper.
Oh Sandy, I loved this movie. I never expected to have tears in my eyes at the end, but I did. The ending broke my heart but it was a perfect ending. I never expected it, but it had to be that way.
Peace - D
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