Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Gran Torino Review

Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a retired Polish American Ford automobile assembly line worker and a Korean War veteran, lives in a changing Highland Park, Michigan neighborhood which is dominated by immigrants. At the start of the movie, Walt is attending his wife's funeral, bristling at the shallow eulogy of young Father Janovich (Christopher Carley). He similarly has no patience for his two sons, Mitch (Brian Haley) and Steve (Brian Howe) and their families who show little respect for Walt or their late mother. Throughout the movie Walt views them as spoiled and self-absorbed, avoiding him unless it is of their own interest; his sons see him as "always disappointed" with them and their families.
Walt's teenage Hmong neighbors, a shy Thao (Bee Vang) and his feisty sister Sue Vang Lor (Ahney Her), live with their mother and eccentric grandmother. When a Hispanic gang confronts Thao, the Hmong gang, led by Thao's older cousin Spider (Doua Moua), helps Thao by frightening the Hispanic gang and forcing them to flee. The Hmong gang, at that point, tries to persuade Thao to join them. Thao's initiation is to steal Walt's prized 1972 Gran Torino Sport. Walt interrupts the robbery, pointing a rifle in Thao's face and forcing him to flee. After a few days, Spider and his gang return. With Sue at his side, Thao manages to verbally confront them to no avail. The gang drags Thao off his porch in an attempt to assault him. His family tries desperately to fend off Spider and his cohorts. The conflict ends when Walt, who fought in the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division, threatens the gang members with his M1 Garand rifle and orders them to "get off my lawn." They leave the neighborhood, telling Walt to watch his back.
The Vang Lors thank a grumpy and impatient Walt, who insists he only wanted the "gooks" off his property. When the neighborhood hears of Walt's brave act, they reward him by decorating his porch with Hmong dishes and garden plants. Thao admits to trying to steal his Gran Torino. Walt is not pleased, seeking only to be left alone. Father Janovich goes to Walt, reminding him of his wife's desire for him to go to confession. Walt refuses.
After seeing Sue being harassed by three black teenagers, while her "date" (Scott Eastwood) cannot help her, Walt steps in to rescue her, confronting the teenagers and threatening them with a Colt 1911 pistol. Sue gets to know Walt, and invites him to a family barbecue, bringing him closer to her family, explaining Hmong culture and that during the Vietnam War they fought on "his" side. Sue, Thao, and their mother confront Walt and his Labrador Retriever Daisy the next day, volunteering Thao to work for Walt to atone for his attempted theft of the Gran Torino. Walt has Thao clean up the neighborhood until his debt is paid and shows Thao the ways of American men. He gets Thao a construction job and encourages him to date another Hmong girl called Youa, whom Walt refers to as "Yum Yum".
After discovering blood when he coughs, Walt visits the doctor. Here again he is confronted by the changing times, seeming to be the only white man in the waiting room, his name is mispronounced by a middle-eastern nurse, and he's informed by his examining Asian woman doctor that his old familiar doctor retired three years earlier. After viewing the results of his examination he calls his son Mitch and awkwardly tries to talk but the the call is cut short when the son tells Walt he is busy. The Hmong gang, meanwhile, keeps pressuring Thao to join them. When they find Thao alone, they mug him and burn his face with a cigarette. Walt confronts and beats one of the Hmong gang members in retaliation. The gang returns days later and shoots up the Vang Lors' home, wounding Thao in the neck. Sue, who had left for her aunt's house before the shooting, returns, beaten and raped. The Hmong keep a code of silence and do not tell police who did it. Walt storms home, punching cupboards and bloodying his knuckles in anger. Father Janovich who has "worked with Asian gangs", visits. The two drink beer together, and discuss what Walt will do about it. He eventually goes to confession with Father Janovich, who after hearing a few old, and somewhat minor sins, tells him to pray.
An angry Thao urges Walt to take vengeance on the Hmong gang with him. Walt first tells him to come back later as revenge must be planned carefully. When Thao returns, Walt gives him the Silver Star medal he earned in Korea but locks him in the basement, saying he does not want him to live with the consequences of killing someone. It is worth noting that in this scene Walt is speaking to Thao about his most grevious sin - killing an enemy soldier "on his way home" - through a metal screen door extremely similar to the screen found in the confessional one scene earlier. Therefore, this scene can be viewed as Walt's actual "confession". Walt drives to confront the gang, calling Sue to have her unlock the basement and let Thao out. Outside the gang members' adjacent houses Walt berates them for the shootout and raping of Sue. As the jumpy gang members show their automatic weapons, Walt waits and watches neighbors begin to look out of their windows and from behind doors to witness. He takes out a cigarette from his jacket, puts it in his mouth, and asks the gang for a light. He begins praying the "Hail Mary" (which was the penance assigned to him by Father Janovich in confession) and then slowly reaches into his jacket, quoting "You got a light? Me? I've got a light." Thinking Walt is going to shoot, the gang unleashes a hail of fire, riddling Walt with bullets. A shot of Walt lying dead on the ground, in a crucifix-like pose, reveals he had grabbed his 1st Cavalry Division Zippo lighter, not a gun. Thao and Sue arrive at the crime scene and ask police what happened. Speaking in Hmong to a Hmong police officer they are told that the gang has been arrested and will be imprisoned for a long time, having killed an unarmed man. Hmong neighbors who witnessed the killing break their code of silence and testify against the gang members.
A funeral service is held for Walt with Father Janovich delivering a memorable eulogy of Walt, who is to be buried in a tailored suit he bought the same day he was killed. Thao and his family attend in a large number opposite Walt's family, which has Walt's son Mitch wondering how the Vang Lors know Walt. In his will, Walt leaves his house to the church, and his Gran Torino to Thao, much to the shock and anger of his family who expected to inherit the house to sell and the Gran Torino for Walt's granddaughter. In the final scene, Thao is driving the Gran Torino up Lakeshore Drive with Walt's dog, Daisy, next to him.


My Personal Review

The Film is more focused, super funny and less dramatic as compared to the Independent Film “Crush” with the same message of conflict in the American dream of Democracy of the multicultural migrants. The Film focuses on the foundation of discrimination, which is self-loathing upon oneself expressed through power-tripping by insecure individuals in the film, including the character of Clint Eastwood. His Jewish prowess prevails at the end of the film, “the hero and the lamb-of-sacrifice excluded among all race and the bad guys go jail to pay their failed American Dream of Democracy. As he repress his mourning not only for the death of his wife but also his living dead, -victims of false modernity- family, he finds himself alone with noisy neighbors bringing him weird food and Thao or Todd as his - Clint Eastwood’s character - fire of patriotism. The vintage car represents his dying self-love as nobody including himself is bewildered of his place in their community; as Thao is driving the “award” car, I felt sad not because Clint Eastwood died but because I saw how some Asians and other smart repressed race gets a free sack of rice by simply playing the oppressed and not the Hero, although I believe in the film everybody played their supposed roles, I just hope we Filipino’s in “General” be more sensitive of what we give and receive. For I believe that self-respect is not earned by being neither passive nor aggressive but by the strength of our conviction and our love for oneself and of others, the rest will follow; swift reaction to events will just lead us to unpredictable call for humility and martyrdom which is not limited by race nor language barrier but by the unspoken language of Love. I hope we Filipinos will be like Jewish heroes –like Jesus Christ- not by crucifying ourselves on the cross but by simply showing off how humble we can be just to preserve Peace. I don’t know what I am saying here but I guess the point of the film is charity begins at home, and being humble is not bad at all; it’s comparable to the Vintage Car; Fast, Simple and very sophisticated in taste. I am proud to be Filipino with or without a car. Haha…

I suggest to watch the film not because we want to feel oppressed "again" but because the film pictures -if not- the current the history of violence within a multi-cultural community in America. Just imagine your cute cousin as one of the characters and you will laugh out loud like your discreminating your own race. haha...

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