Row M Seat #30 "Gran Torino" rated M

SYNOPSIS:

Following his wife's funeral, grumpy Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) has little to do but drink beer and sneer at his mostly South East Asian neighbours, some of whom sneer back. Next door, Hmong teenager Thao (Bee Vang), is reluctantly pushed into an initiation for the local Hmong gang - to steal Walt's pristine 1972 Gran Torino - until Walt catches him at it.

Walt's general disdain isn't limited to Hmongs; he has never really connected with his adult sons, either. But when the prickly old geezer is out of beer, he grudgingly accepts an invitation from Thao's sister Sue (Ahney Her) to go next door for a barbecue - and beers.

His resentment begins to thaw, and when Thao wants to repair the family name and work for Walt doing odd jobs for a week, Walt starts to recognize the humanity in the boy and becomes the father figure the boy doesn't have, leading to dramatic changes in everyone's lives.

Urban Cinefile

Everything I read told me this would be a good film, with the grainy storytelling qualities of 'Million Dollar Baby' and some familiar themes Clint Eastwood seems to have enjoyed exploring in recent times. This is a moving parable and is one of those multilayered films I appreciate even more the further away I get.

Eastwood's character study is made most real by the authentic neighbours, with little or no English and a very different culture of family life.

Walt 'fixes things' from electrical goods to potentially his young neighbour whose sensitivity and struggle Walt sees. He is gruff and is disappointed in himself and others, yet redemption is possible and surprisingly so...

Set in Detroit, the Gran Torino is a symbol of life itself, from the glory days of American 'muscle cars' to the current economic plight and societal changes thrown in along the way.

It's a moving exploration of:

*multicultural issues

[Walt lumps all 'slopes or zipperheads' together until it's pointed out to him these Vietnamese people are there because they fought on the US side and had nowhere else to go after the war]

*classic second generation issues with a gang storyline

*generational differences pre and post the 1950s

*identity

*issues of faith & life with some nice by play between Walt and his young Catholic Priest

Spoiler Alert:

Confession, redemption and the path to seeing more in others than their flaws proves to be far more complex than might be expected and the parable ending is suitably bitter sweet!!

It's a timely story with Easter not too far away...