Movie review - Gran Torino

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 2011)

** May contain spoilers **
In the film Gran Torino, directed by Clint Eastwood, we see a widowed Korean War veteran deal with the generation gap and the cultural prejudice in a neighborhood he has lived in for over 40 years. Walt Kowlaski, played by Clint Eastwood, is the veteran dealing with the recent passing of his wife while a Hmong gang is trying to convert the shy neighbor Thao, played by Bee Vang to a life of a small time gangster. Walt's prejudice is spurred by his past wartime dealings with Asians and his ignorance of the Hmong culture. An admitted failure with raising his own children and having warmed up to Thao's older sister Sue, Walt tries to teach the fatherless Thao what it means to be a man and give him a chance to live up to his potential.
The main theme of Gran Torino is overcoming the generation gap and prejudice of other cultures. This is displayed not only with Walt's dealings with the Hmong neighbors, but also with the local priest who presided over his wife's funeral. Walt gets along well with the other people in the film that are from the same generation of blue collar workers, who he banters back and forth with in what Walt later describes to Thao as male conversation. Walt's disgust for the Hmong neighbors and the younger generation can be seen throughout the film. From his comment he makes about how the old neighbors would react to the neighborhood being kept is disrepair to kids who mock an elderly lady after dropping her groceries. You even see some of his disdain for his own grandchildren as he grunts during the funeral when his granddaughter is showing her mid-drift with a navel ring and when she later asks him for his car and sofa after he dies.
Finally the young Sue convinces Walt over for a Hmong barbecue where he makes a few cultural errors as she tries to give him some tips. Soon he finds that they are not very much different than his own culture. After witnessing Thao, help the neighbor lady inside with her dropped groceries, and sitting alone in the basement oblivious to a pretty Hmong girl staring at him Walt gives the would be thief some advice. Later the Thao's mother insists Walt lets work of the debt to him by working for him. Slowly Walt sees something of himself in Thao and helps him to help himself. The climax of the movie pushes forward Walt's acceptance the current generation is not completely lost and the Hmong people are hardworking and proud of their culture. With his life at an end, Walt sees he can make a sacrifice so Thao's life can begin.
This movie is similar to Generation X where in the protagonist is a young man sent to prison due to his racial prejudice. He comes out of prison with the enlightenment of how his hatred has cost him and tries to convert other kids from the gang life and to respect the difference of others. While the reverse of Walt in age we can see how he clearly comes to the realization that it was his hatred in ignorance of the younger generation and the of the other cultures in his neighborhood that had cost him his happiness and kept him from recognizing the potential of Thao living next door.