Celebrates life, death and differences

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2008)

Gran Torino is no cheap car flick. It is a deep, introspective film that left me applauding its creator - and star. I appreciate the fact that Eastwood, as a working actor and director, champions elders in our culture. As someone who hails from the Detroit area, but has lived elsewhere in the U.S., I appreciate the film's depiction of Detroit's little known diversity and the fact that Kowalski was a proud city dweller - in an older neighborhood. Most of all, standing up to a gang is something that all Detroiters and people in many parts of the country, and world, can cheer. I do hate the fact that so many characters with guts are depicted as alcoholics in film, let's get beyond that. Eastwood values all the right things, helping the vulnerable, shunning shallowness - even when its in your own family and of course, love of animals! Great film, great message...