Gran Torino

Rating: Null/10 (30 October 2011)

The film Gran Torino was an excellent example of both Clint Eastwood's acting and directing abilities. The movie is about Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood. He is a retired factory worker and Korean War veteran living in Detroit. The neighborhood he lives in has become mostly inhabited by low income Asian immigrants and is struggling with gangs taking over the neighborhood. Walt attempts to keep to himself, but is forced to face the reality of his community after his neighbor, a teenage Hmong immigrant, Thao Vang Lor, played by Bee Vang tries to steal his 1972 Gran Torino. Thao is being pressured into joining a gang by his cousin Fong aka "Spider" played by Doua Moua. Walt saves Thao from being beaten up by the gang, and the two of them form a bond with the help of Thao's sister Sue, played by Ahney Her. As the story progresses, Walt helps Thao develop into a responsible adult and teaches him about life and love as he attempts to escape the pressures of gang life.
One of the major themes of the film is prejudice and hatred towards different races, cultures and ethnicities. The neighborhood that Walt lives in used to be predominately white, working class families. Over time it has become a haven for low-income Asian immigrants, particularly the Hmong people. Walt is not a fan of these people, especially being a Korean War veteran. Throughout the movie he makes use of many different ethnic slurs, such as "gooks", "zips", and "chinks". He also constantly miss pronounces the name of the teenage girl Thao has a crush on, continuously calling her "Yum-Yum". Walt is set in his ways, and refuses to change, even though his neighborhood and the world as a whole is changing. In the movie he is forced to confront the changing ethnicity of his neighborhood, as well as the gang presence and influence in the neighborhood. Through his interactions with his Hmong neighbors, in particular Thao, he begins to take a softer view of these people. As the movie progresses he begins to have more of an understanding for different cultures, but as shown in the reading of his will, he never 100% changed, as he still utilizes ethnic slurs. The lighting in this film is really well done, and adds to the overall effect of the film. The use of lots of shadows to and low lighting makes the film more dramatic. The dark rough character of Walt is usually shown in dark lighting with lots of shadows. Whereas the young Asian teen who is going to "show him the light" is portrayed with bright lighting effects. Another important element to the film is the settings. The film was shot in parts of Detroit, Highland Park, Royal Oak, and Grosse Pointe Park Michigan. The scenes are very authentic to what you would expect to see in a low-income, heavy immigrant neighborhood. Without the proper scenery, the film would lose a lot of its authenticity.
Overall I thought this was a good film, showing the prejudice, stereotypes and hatred still present in much of America. It has a similar theme and messages to the movie American History X, of acceptance and tolerance are better than hatred and prejudices just because someone is different then you are.