Gran Torino | 2008
Genre: Drama
Author : Srivathsa
Synopsis: This old man is a relentless artist
“Gran Torino” is director, Clint Eastwood’s second movie in the same year alongside,
“The Changeling”. While “Changeling” deals with incidents of a different time period,
“Gran Torino” deals with the present multi cultural society of the United States.
Eastwood plays Korean War Vet, Walt Kowalski, who had just lost his dear wife and
has never been close to his sons. He is also the “buy American” type old man, who
is an ex- Ford employee. “Would it kill you to buy American?” is what he says to
his son. And he is to a degree racist and is often offended by his Hmong neighbors
and pays his due by offering them with names like swamp rats and barbarians. But,
the situations change , when Thao Vang Lor and Sue Lor, his Hmong neighbours get
along with him well. These youngsters have troubled times with the mobs running
around the streets and of course everyone in the world seems to have an eye on his
priced possession, 1972 Gran Torino. Father Janovich played by Chritopher Carley
had promised his wife to make Walt confess, which Walt hates to.
Eastwood reminded a tad of his character in “Million Dollar Baby” and the
shades do complement his character. Even when the story is the old book style, the
director’s presence in a monumental form, makes the difference. Bee Vang as Thao
Vang Lor and Ahney Her as Sue Lor play apt roles. But it is Eastwood’s immense performance
as Walt is what stays along. Who else at this age , could direct and act the way
Dirty Harry does?
Gran Torino offers nothing new, but what it offers, it does it with beautiful screenplay
and direction. The movie makes you realize the kind of world we are living in, the
culture, the adaptations, the people and their mentality and of course this is just
a larger than life character that we see every day. But , doesn’t the character
tell you the truth when Walt says “The thing that haunts a guy is the stuff he wasn't
ordered to do.”