Gran Torino

I always love the end of each year for movies to come out. It seems like the best films come out in November and December. I must admit that I wasn’t looking foreword seeing Clint Eastwood’s new film. For some reason, it wasn’t looking appealing to me. Fortunately and beneficially to me Slumdog Millionaire was sold out, and the only movie at that time was Gran Torino.

This is one of Clint Eastwoods prime movies and definitely one of the best films of the year. This film brings out the realism of dealing with current racial issues that exists in a different light today. I am so thrilled to see a movie that puts the realism back in the cinemas.

The movie starts with an old grumpy man (Clint Eastwood) at his wife’s funeral. Everything and everyone is driving him nuts, and is annoying him, even the Pastor was ignorant to his reality of pain, life, and the fruits of love.

While we see Eastwood’s miserable at the end of his days of his with a superficial family, (that only wants his connections and practically him dead and gone so that they can go on with life), he has his one pride and joy, his Gran Torino roadster and his dog.

Where the story gets more interesting is when Eastwood starts interacting with his neighbors. After being very racist due to his past history with Koreans in the war he was involved in, he would call them everything in the book that he could. Tao, one of the teenagers who lived next door, was being threaten and forced to join his cousin’s gang. The initiations would be for Tao to steal the Gran Torino.

Of course, conflict arises while Tao gets caught, and stirs Eastwood’s blood even more. At the same time, Sue (Tao’s sister) grows a bond with Eastwood, inviting him into there culture, and though he was a bigot, loved him and showed care and warmth for him.

In time Sue and her mother convinced Eastwood that Tao needed to work for him to pay off the disgrace that Tao brought to his family. From there, the story thickens; you see the bond and the principles of life start to be shown.

One of my favorite characters in the film was the Pastor. Christopher Carley is a great actor. He did a great job of showing the change in his life and in his teaching as the movie went on.

This is a movie that is a must see hands down. Yes you hear a lot of racial and hard brutality, but at the same time, so many harmonic lessons are taught. So many beautiful parables of living, and that your life is worth while, and that it is important that we all show interests in others regardless of what our opinions and differences.

This film is one of the best of 2008. Like I said at the beginning, I went into this film as an unbeliever and came out that Clint Eastwood is not just an icon in the film world and story telling…he is a legend.

If you liked this film I recommend:

Westside Story
Towelhead
Blazing Saddles