Gran Torino

Who would have thought that Grandpa Clint could still be so tough-as-nails and have that big of a heart?

There comes a time in every actor's career when he/she has to start making fun of himself to keep the audience on his/her side. Take William Shatner, for instance. He made his career on his dramatic overacting in the Star Trek franchise. And what is he doing now? Making a killing playing characters (including himself) that make fun of himself and his style of acting.

The same applies here. Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet and retired Ford factory worker who has no patience for his family, disrespect, foreign cars and Asian immigrants. When we meet him he is attending his wife's funeral, snarling at his granddaughter's choice of apparel. And when I say snarling, I literally mean he grits his teeth and grunts.

At first it appears he's trying to channel his Dirty Harry past and be all macho again. But very quickly we see that Dirty Harry has become a grumpy old man, and Eastwood pulls out all the stops to make him as grumpy, grunty, and politically incorrect as possible. And we love him for it. We simply can't help it.

While Walt's spoiled and annoying family attempts to win his favour in order to inherit the family heirlooms (whilst also attempting to convince him to move to a home for the elderly), enter the Lor family who move in next door from the Hmong regions of southeast Asia. Frustrated that his neighbourhood is being taken over by Asians (and calling them by every ethnic slur in the book), Walt tries his best to avoid the neighbours by staying at home with his golden retriever, his beer, and his '72 Gran Torino. He becomes the unlikely hero, however, after rescuing the shy boy next door from one of the many local gangs. What follows is an unlikely friendship with the boy, Thao (whom he affectionately called Toad) and his sister, Sue.

I would venture to say that this film is one of the best of 2008. It is simply and superbly written, allowing the audience to think and feel and make up their own minds. You can't help but love this old man, set in his all-American ways, trying desperately not to be moved by his new neighbours. What's refreshing is that this isn't a moral piece that Eastwood is trying to preach to his audience. What he presents is a man who's gone through a lot of shit, doesn't have all the answers, and in the end becomes a hero because he finally comes to terms with life and death.

This is the real theme of Gran Torino. After Walt berates a young priest for having the gall to talk about life and death with such authority by going on a rant about what it's like to live with having killed people in Korea, the priest retorts with, "Sounds to me like you know more about death than you do about living life." Walt's journey becomes about discovering what life still has to offer after dealing with death, finding truth and joy in others amidst the horrors of his past. And in the film's finale, we get to see the full size of Walt's heart in an act of sacrifice that defies all expectations. Refreshing and rewarding. Highly recommended.