Gran Torino

There are rumors this will be Clint's last acting job, and if it is, I am completely satisfied. Yes, I would love to see this American great on screen again, but Gran Torino is a pitch-perfect ending to his career.

Clint also directs this picture, about a racist grumpy old man who gets thrown into the drama of his foreign neighbors' lives. We start with Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), a retired man who has just lost his wife, is completely disconnected from his annoyingly selfish kids, and lives in an older neighborhood that has been "overrun with Asians." He is almost the only white person left in his section of town, but he won't leave, he will just whine. He tells things like he sees them, which is very refreshing, even if we as the audience are appalled at what he says. He used to work on the line at the Ford factory for 50 years. This career included the highlight of putting the steering column in his '72 Gran Torino. But one fateful night Kowalski is forced to defend his dreaded next door neighbors, the Lors, who are Hmong (from Southeast Asia). The are being threatened by the Hmong gang, who is trying to recruit the Lors' son Thao (who Kowalski calls Toad). The gang ends up on Walt's lawn, which is bad, and Walt comes out with a gun and says "get of my lawn." Inadvertently, Kowalski has saved Thao for the time being, which is not really what Walt was intending He just wants to be left alone.

The rest of the film watches the interplay between the crotchety old white man and his Hmong neighbors. A friendship and respect grows, but it feels authentic, unlike most films. Walt doesn't stop with the racial slurs or revert to social niceties. He isn't afraid to speak his mind, especially about other people. And the fact is, sometimes that can be a very good thing (it is for Thao). Walt becomes a father figure to the fatherless Thao and eventually makes some pretty big decisions in his and his family's favor. He intervenes because he knows it is right, and he is old fashioned, he does what is right because it is right.

Walt is an admirable man, an old school man's man. He has flaws, he is very prejudiced and xenophobic. He judges people all the time. But he has no fear. He isn't caught up in being nice or polite (which is a common criticism of Christians). His interactions with people are authentic, he doens't take crap from anyone, and he has lived too long and seen to much to lie to himself or others. He has nothing to prove to anyone, he knows who he is.

The film is also quite hilarious and endearing (oh, I hate that term when it comes to movies, but here it fits). It is a searing character study of old school America and the changes that have happened and are happening in our society. It investigates right and wrong while transcending cultural lines, awkwardly at times. This is a nearly perfect film, and Clint succeeds again. Can he go wrong anymore? He even wrote an original song to end the film.

I don't want to give away the ending, but let's just say it is a fitting end to the film and possibly to one of the greatest acting careers of all-time, the ultimate man's man. Most all of Clints films (both acting and directing) deal with the myth of redemptive violence. Sometimes they buy in, and sometimes they don't. The climax of the film could not make a stronger statement in this regard. The very definition of strength, courage, and honor. Thank you again Mr. Eastwood.