Gran Torino

Tonight I chose to see Gran Torino, a social commentary film written, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood in what will apparently be his acting swansong.

The film starts out with the now widowed Walt (Clint Eastwood) living at home by himself in what has become a rough Korean neighbourhood, full of crime, violence and gang culture much to Walt’s dismay as he once served in Vietnam and has had a racist stigma ever since. After Walt inadvertently save Thao, his young Korean next door neighbour from a gang of thugs he is crowned a reluctant neighbourhood hero. He soon develops an understanding for other cultures and start to teach Thao how to be a man eventually befriending him and letting him drive his 1972 Gran Torino (a car that represent an era long gone, an era when Eastwood was younger).

The thing that most appealed to me about this film was the opportunity to see Clint Eastwood acting again, this time now as a very old man and long since his heyday. Overall Eastwood nails the role, portraying Walt as a bitter, twisted, cynical, old misanthropist. A man who frowns upon the modern society, especially his good for nothing grand children and the ethnic gang culture that now plagues a once pleasant neighbourhood. Another thing notable about Clint's performance is how he manages to generates sympathy for the elderly showing how they are viewed by the younger generations as utterly dependant.

With Eastwood’s character the film successfully explore the issue of how war veterans perceive the ran down society they fought for, how they will always have to live with what they’ve been through and how they will never have a full understanding of other cultures due to this.

One thing worth pointing out is the abundance of racial slurs uttered largely by Eastwood Himself throughout. In the 2 hour running time he manages to offend blacks, Jews, Christians and most of all Chinese people. However this film succeed at making each and every slur slightly funny therefore causing no offence to any viewers. It is through the audiences understanding of Eastwood’s character that the film achieves this.

This film shares similarities with American History X (1998). Both films deal with racial intolerance and the effect that is has on society and like America History X this film end on a rather bleak note, which in all honesty may by quite shocking to an audience (in a good way).

I would highly recommend Gran Torino to someone looking to watch a film with more meaning to it, especially since the next few months will be filled with shoddy, pointless franchise cash ins (terminator 4 anyone?). Enjoy it whilst you can, this film is just like the radio advert says “It’s like Dirty Harry never went away”.

4 STARS