They say they don’t make movies like they used to. Indeed you’ll hear many who claim we’ve come to a creative impasse, our stream of originality having run dry years ago, dooming us to a life of recycling. Clint Eastwood is a man who bemoans modern cinema with the best of them, and has always tried to make “classic” films, such as the crime drama Mystic River, or the Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby. His new film, Gran Torino, is a film about tradition, about the old ways, and whether they really are worth reliving.
In Gran Torino, Clint (in possibly his last acting role) plays old Walt Kowalski, recently widowed and refusing to move out of the increasingly Asian-based underprivileged neighbourhood. Walt gets unwillingly involved in the affairs of his neighbours, a Hmong family, and particularly the son, Thao, who is being harassed by a Hmong gang. As Walt begins to warm up to the “gooks”, he realises that the gang is a serious threat, and plans to deal with them once and for all, despite the limpid moralising of the local priest.
Like many a “classic” story, this is the tale of culture and generation clash, with those differences being blurred through a common goal, or in this film, and enemy. So the plot sails along at a pleasantly predictable pace. And that’s not to say that there’s no enjoyment along the way, as crotchety ol Walt spouts racist quips with a few anti-youth jokes in the mix.
However, lying within this film is a sense of racism, lying on top of a deeper layer of meaning which holds nothing but contempt for modern society. For as the film seems to suggest, it takes a 70-year old war vet to sort out the modern troubles of an immigrant family. In one scene Clint confronts a bunch of young African-Americans who are in the way of Thao’s sister, Sue, and talks the talk (and brandishes a gun) enough for them to back off with fear in their eyes. Now while that may be somewhat true, more often than not the bravado in disenfranchised neighbourhoods usually overcomes any sense of safety.
In fact, the film feels more like an ego-trip for an ageing Western actor. Walt’s children are soft, fat, and money-infatuated white collar family men. And returning to the issue of race, it seems that a bit of force and sacrifice is all it takes to save the day. As much as the film tries to understand the culture of the Hmong, it only succeeds in showing them to be utterly incapable of resolving their own situation. And while this may be true in certain cases in reality, in the world of cinema what do we really get from seeing an OAP beat the baddies (in the most hackneyed act of laboured poignancy I’ve seen in years, I might add)?
Gran Torino may be a classic film in its themes and narratives, but ultimately it’s a classic act of self-aggrandising that offers us little more than the idea that violence will create a problem, and also solve it.
John said
January 8 2009 @ 9:52 pm
I couldn’t agree more about the ego-trip for an aging Western Actor. I thought the film boiled down to Walt being a bad ass with a heart after all, the same old story, with a few bad acting new comers. If anyone but Clint made this movie, we wouldn’t have even heard of it. There was another interesting review that I read on Essentialgearguide.com:
http://essentialgearguide.com/1/1344/gran-torino-clint-eastwoods-last-acting-role/
But that review might have been too soft
Gran Torino Lover said
January 11 2009 @ 4:25 am
This movie was great. Clint, as usual, did a superb job. The acting of the children wasn’t that good but I still am not sure if it is bad acting of part of a cultural thing. I think you may have missed the point of the movie. I doubt intentions were to give much thought on violence in the movie but how actions speak louder than words, and that everybody, no matter what generation, age, race, sex etc, has the choice to change and either do the right thing, or the wrong thing. Walt didn’t die from smoking, or did he?
mr 64 said
January 14 2009 @ 10:24 am
I always keep a list of 10 favorite movies and this has made my top ten, and thats not easy to do. I just hate the idea that the gang did’nt really get their’s, because prison was too good for those bully bastards!
Kaitlyn said
May 11 2009 @ 1:25 pm
i really liked this movie! the one thing that i didn tlike about it was the fact that it was all based on racism. im a white female and i am strongly against racism. the acting was a bit off with the kids but i’m sure it was really hard playing a part in which you had to be so very kind to a person that is extremlly rude to you. The thing that bothered me was when Sue was raped and beaten. I understand that things like that really did happen but it was a bit over done.
Overall it was a great movie! It’s a movie that i could watch over and over and never get tired of it!
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