Gran Torino

Roadshow Pictures

R4 DVD

Elsewhere in this issue we look at a book of poster art for Clint Eastwood’s many films. Even in his recent years he can still act in and produce a good film. I thought we might have a look at some of his later films and see how they compare with his earlier work. Especially in his early spaghetti western days, characterisation was usually minimal. The “Man With No Name” was also a man with no personality. Action was the thing. In his later films Eastwood has often played down the action in favour of more developed characterisation and this film is a good example. Some actors seem to be able to do this – as they get older they just get better. I am reminded for instance of John Wayne’s skilful depiction of an aging gunfighter in the film The Shootist. Gran Torino has a lot in common.

Walt Kowalski is a retired Ford production line worker. He has just buried his wife. His neighbourhood is being populated by Asian refugees, particularly from the Hmong hill people of Vietnam. Walt is more than a little xenophobic, but at least he is impartial about it – he dislikes all foreigners equally. He also doesn’t like the kids of today (including his own), the gangs that are now infesting his suburb, religion and priests, and pretty much anything that has changed since the 1960s. The only remaining things he loves are his old dog and his Ford Gran Torino, one of the cars he built while he worked on the production line. His prejudices are stirred up when a Hmong family moves into the house next door on the day of his wife’s funeral. The extended family are a happy bunch with one exception. Young Thao, the son, is immature, has no girlfriend or job, and probably no future. He is being pressured to join a Hmong gang run by his cousin. As part of Thao’s initiation into the gang he is given the job of stealing Walt’s Gran Torino. He makes a complete botch of it. His family makes him work for Walt until the debt of honour is paid off.

Thao is set to work not on Walt’s house but on his neighbours’ homes. The rundown suburb is slowly improved by Thao’s work and he starts to learn the home repair trade under Walt’s tuition. Grudgingly Walt comes to respect the young man and Thao comes to respect him as a father figure. Walt’s ultimate accolade is to let Thao wash his prized car.

Thao’s sister Sue is accosted by a gang one day and Walt saves her from being raped. He is now willingly taken into the Hmong community as a friend and even comes to respect them and their customs as Sue explains them to him. He finds that he particularly likes their food (he seems to live on beef jerky) so they regularly deliver meals to him. There is a lovely scene where he gets into a spitting competition with the grandmother.

He even tries to find Thao a job with a friend in the construction industry. He can see that without a job Thao doesn’t stand a chance in the increasingly violent neighbourhood. As Sue explains, “Hmong girls go to college, Hmong boys go to jail”. Then Sue is kidnapped and raped and Thao is beaten up by a gang. Walt has military experience from the Korean War and has a number of guns. Thao is all for vengeance. Walt urges caution, but makes his plans. The end is totally unexpected.

It is hard to describe the skill with which Eastwood plays a man whose prejudices are changing around him. I think it may be his best part yet, and will be hard to beat in the future. Bee Vang as Thao plays almost the same role in reverse – the young lad looking for guidance in a foreign environment. It is a superb film of prejudices and intercultural conflicts.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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