Recommended.

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2012)

Racial and social prejudices are an imminent problem in modern society. Be it in Detroit, Bangkok, Copenhagen or San José, these are problems we can all understand and on some level relate to. Clint Eastwood does a great job integrating universal problems into a two hour film. With his excellent story-telling skills he sets up a background to the main character that enables the public to understand, yet not justify, this character's racism and social stigmas. The movie shows an evolution in the main characters and it allows the audience to travel emotionally with them as they face moral challenges.
Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is a racist Korean War veteran. He lost his wife very recently and has to deal with living in a Detroit neighborhood filled with gangs and crimes. This is not all, his neighborhood was "taken over" by immigrants, which helps feed his impatient character and racism, that with his wife is not present to help sooth his anxiousness, has no natural limit. Walt as the viewer learns has little to absent religious fiber, as he dismisses Father Javonich's (Christopher Carley) help when offered and only holds very little respect for him because his late wife respected Javonich. Even though he has a rough, racist exterior, his moral character is impeccable shown in the one of the movie's turning points, when he saves Thao (Bee Vang) from his cousins gang. He is also a protagonist in Sue's (Ahney Her) rescue from another local gang and from his "heroic" nature is involved with the Hmong family which seem to understand him and appreciate him, because of his actions, even more than Mitch Kowalski (Brian Haley), his own son.
The acting was in general very keen. The actors had a visible commitment to their roles, even if ineffective this commitment was not taken for granted by the audience. This is the case of Bee Vang (Thao), which lacked enthusiasm and verisimilitude in his character, as he was too shy when interpreting Thao most of the time and had some inexplicable bursts of attitude and energy which didn't fit the roll's general behavior. Apart from this the acting was excellent, Clint Eastwood succeeded perfectly in interpreting his character as did the Hmong family and the gang-bangers.
The movie had a slow but fascinating evolution, yet watching the movie more than once in a short period of time may prove to be a unexciting task, as the rate at which the film evolves becomes much slower when the viewer already knows the outcome. On example of this is the scene at the beginning where the mourning of Walt's late wife is taking place, the images shown in the story-telling evolution is very important, but once you get to know the outcome of the story the initial scenes seem pointless and long. The movie's entertainment value is a great for first-timers.
Even though the movie's entertainment value decreases after you have watched it once the moral value increases, as you can focus more on the moral evolution of the film because you already have a good understanding of the plot. More than teaching, the movie makes the spectator aware of the social behavioral problems presented in Gran Torino, examples of these are violence, racism, social and economical prejudices as well. Apart from the social critiques, Clint Eastwood thrives when connecting the viewer on an emotional level with the characters, which show a realistic development and evolution of their self and their relationship with others, which can classify the movie in the drama genre. The movie, through its gender may be compared to Slumdog Millionaire, another drama film, which is also characterized by the development of its realistic characters.
This movie is intended for a young adult audience, which can understand the social interactions and social faults present in the characters, while not being overly surprised by the rude language at hand. The film is definitely not proposed to public below the age of fifteen, which should make the film PG-15. It is originally rated R, which is a little strict but understandable, because it shows very harsh language and some violent images but no sexual scenes whatsoever. In general terms Gran Torino is a must in your watch list, without a doubt worth the time and analysis.
The movie is an 8.5 in a scale of 10. Pedro Maldonado is a senior in Lincoln School, Costa Rica, country in which he is currently living. He is part of the Varsity soccer and basketball teams in his high school and will be attending Loyola University Chicago for the academic year 2012-2013.