Gran Eastwood

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2009)

It's hard to believe that Eastwood is almost 80 and still going this strong. I really enjoyed the subtle nuances of this movie and while it was a little predictable--I knew half an hour in that Eastwood would die and leave the car to the kid--I didn't anticipate the way it would end or Walt's final act, which was really great. Much has been made of the racist comments of this character, but I would pose the attitude that it is less important how you talk, than it is how you act. Walt may talk racist, but he's inherently not when it comes to judging people by their essence, as is shown by his championing of the Hmung family that he comes to know. I would also like to take issue with someone on this board who said it was unrealistic for Walt to suddenly stop to fix a rocking washing machine for the family he hardly knew. Actually, this is exactly what my father would have done, a man very similar in style and attitudes to WAlt Kowalski. It was like a compulsion for men of this generation--if they came across something broken, they would fix it. That was what being a man was all about in this generation. It's incredible to think this film was so overlooked at the Oscars. But maybe that's because there was actually very little violence and too much thought provoking action. Bravo to Eastwood for giving us a film about ideas and not just automatic weapons.