Gran Torino

@Kate:

Can you tell us more what it was that you liked about this film?

Um…it had a cool gas-guzzling muscle car in it? 😉

Well…hopefully without giving anything specific away, I liked the theme of developing friendship, ultimately ending in ultimate sacrifice; and finding peace and comfort in living in one’s own skin. The decision of the Eastwood character at the end was really the only resolution that I can think of that dramatically works. Sure, I wanted to see some more ass-kicking, but the way he resolved the conflict was perfect. And I liked the echoes to his past service in the Korean War that helped shape him.

I also think his disgruntled, grumbling ponderance over, “What’s wrong with kids today”/”What’s happening to MY America”? is a sentiment that resonates with many of us who sometimes don’t recognize our own country in some of the changes, feeling pushed out and a stranger in our own country/frontyard. The scene where his friend reveals that decency still lives in the next generation- not just deadenders.

I liked his interactions with his neighbors, his racial slurs which lose their barbs and becomes endearing. His banter with his barber.

His estrangement to his two sons and their families and a failure to connect. People need purpose, meaning, a sense of usefulness in their lives; and his family seemed to just be waiting for him to hurry up and die so they wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore…like he was just baggage that they were obligated to care for, yet failed to even do that.

I also don’t feel it at all unrealistic that a man his advanced age can still be one bad m-effer you don’t want to mess with.

A couple of my teachers knew old Filipino guys who fought alongside Americans in the Philippines and came to live here after WWII. There are stories about both men. One of them supposedly has documented accounts by the police and locals of him, at his advanced age, fending off muggers and street thugs in Stockton. This includes stabbing a man with his own knife and disarming another one of his firearm.

If I remember correctly, he was murdered by some kid-punk who came up to him from behind and shot him in the head while he waited at the bus stop; simply because the old man had gained a reputation and the kid wanted to make a name for himself.

And again, I really, really enjoy listening to that song, right now. If it weren’t for the YouTube video, I’d go back and watch the movie just to listen to the song again. It’s not that it’s anything exceptional; just the latest “novelty”. And I just find it relaxing.