Gran Torino

Gran Torino is a 2008 movie directed by Clint Eastwood.  He is also in the movie as the main character Walt Kolwaski. 

 

The story happens in Michigan.  Walt is a veteran who fought in Korea.  He was bothered by the killing and cruelty of the war even after the war ended and it affected the way he lives his life.  He is very cynical and dislikes a lot of things young generations do.  He does not get along and is not very close to his sons, daughter-in-laws and his grandkids; he does not like his Hmong neighbours, who get together a lot as a big family; he does not care for the priest, who he thinks knows nothing about real life and death but only preaches knowledge from books.  He worked at the Ford company before retirement and cherished his 1972 Gran Torino.

 

Walt does not like his neighbors because he thinks they are dirty and uneducated, and he blames them for taking over the neigborhood.  After rescuing the neighbor's daughter Sue from street gansters and her brother, Thao, from the Hmong gang, he became the hero of the neighborhood and was respected by the Hmong community,who kept sending him flowers and food on his porch.  Thao is a confused but smart kid who does not know what to do with his life and lacks a role model in his life.  His mother made him work for Walt for one week to punish him for trying to steal Walt's Gran Torino. During this period, the two get to know each other.

 

Through serial events, Walt and Thao become close to each other and Walt become Thao's role model.  Walt taught Thao how to fix things around the house, how to use different tools, how to man up.  He even helped Thao to find a job in a construction site.  Thao becomes a much happier person than he ever was.   He even asked his favorate girl out and went out for a date with the Gran Torino borrowed from Walt.  Just about when all things are on the right track, Thao's gangster cousin Spider would not leave him alone and keep looking for trouble-- beating Thao up in the back alley, stabbing Thao's face with a cigarrette stub, drive-by shooting at Thao's house, and even raping Thao's sister Sue.  All these outraged Thao, Walt, and the priest.

 

Walt thought carefully and came up with a plan in order to stop the gangsters from bothering Thao's family.  Thao, in hope of going with Walt to get his revenge, was tricked and locked up in Walt's basement.  Walt went solo to confront the gang.  Trying to reach his inside pocket for a cigarette lighter, Walt was misunderstood as trying to reach a gun and was shot multiple times by the gansters.  This caused police attention and finally put each single one of the gang members behind bars.  Walt's plan worked-- without a gun, without a real fight, put the bad guys in jail.  But it cost Walt's life!

 

The shocking part of the story is that it takes a white man's life to get police attention.  Sue being raped, Thao and tons of other guys getting bulled did not put the gangster in jail.  It is so hard for Sue and Thao to get out of their "circles" and the influences of the local gang.  The fact that the hmongs keep their mouth shut to the police and don't seek legal solution also make me speechless.

 

The movie ended with Walt left his house to the church, and his Gran Torino to Thao in his will, leaving his son, daughter-in-law, and grantdaughter disppointed.  After all, the house and the car were all they cared about, and ironically, they got none of it.

 

One more thing, I did not know this, but find out later, that Clint Eastwood's son, Scott Eastwood, is also in the movie, playing the Character "Trey", the kid Sue was going out with when they ran into the black gang.  I liked how Walt degraded Trey for not being himself in the movie!