GranTorino

Gran Torino is a movie produced, directed and starred by Clint Eastwood. The movie takes place in a town in Michigan where resident Walter Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood, has been widowed. Walter is a cranky, racist, ill-tempered and hardcore old school American. When his neighborhood is, from his point of view, “infested with gooks” he is thrown into a conflict with a Hmong gang. Hmong is the name of the Asian group of people mentioned above. This gang terrorizes the neighborhood and especially Tao, Walters’s neighbor. The two of them develops a friendship over the movie.

Gran Torino is a great movie about youth gangs, immigration, friendship, today’s youth and prejudice. The movie brings up several important issues/themes nowadays, however it is not an over serious movie as it uses humor throughout the movie. With great success I might add, I’ve seen this movie nine times at least and Clint Eastwood still makes me laugh. If you are easily offended by slightly racist remarks though, you should avoid this movie. Clint Eastwood acts splendidly in his role as Walter Kowalski and Gran Torino is an exciting and fun movie. I highly recommend it.

A conflict in the movie which I would like to emphasize is not the biggest or most important one. I’m talking about the conflict between father Janovich and Walter. Janovich promised to fulfill Walter’s wife’s dying wish and receive Walter’s confession. Throughout the movie father Janovich tries to convince Walter to confess, but they have completely different views and opinions. Also, it appears they don’t like one another. This conflict brings up a lot of funny sequences like when Walter calls Janovich “over-educated, 27-year-old virgin who holds the hand of superstitious old women and promises them eternity.”

As an ending I’m including a video with Walter Kowalski insults from the movie. Viewer’s discretion is advised due to foul language.