'Gran Torino' dir. Clint Eastwood

Some class paragraphs:
The main character, Walt Kowalski, shows that he does not get on with his family early in the movie. This is shown when Walt’s granddaughter asks for his Gran Torino and his couch for her dorm at college. After this, you see his family trying to get more things. This is shown during the phone call between Walt and his son, when his son asks if Walt still knows the person who gets tickets for the football. This gives the impression that his sons only use him for the stuff he owns. I feel this gave a lot of detail about the relationship between Walt and his sons.

Walt is quite a self-centred person, as his family do not like him, his wife died and no one around the neighbourhood is like him. He also is not very pleasant to others. As the neighbourhood has been taken over by Hmong people and because he fought in Korea, he was disrespectful towards them. He spat on the old woman’s porch to show this. He also uses racist language, calling them ‘fish heads’ and he calls Thao ‘Toad’. In one part he pulls out his pretend gun in front of a gang of Hmong, to frighten them. Tao sees Walt as a role model in the end and is given his beloved Gran Torino.

During the film, Walt changes his feelings for the Hmong people. At the start of the film, Walt is completely against their race. He is a bigot and a racist. He is also not afraid to use violence to get his own way. A point which proves this occurs during one of the many action scenes, when people from this other race stumble onto his lawn and break his gnomes. Walt comes out with a gun and threatens to shoot the Hmong and says, ‘In Korea we used to stack f**ks like you five foot high and use you as sandbags.’ This part of the film is very effective because it allows the viewers to understand what Walt has been through in his past. It also shows that he is not afraid to use violence and, in the end, is not afraid to die for the sake of his new found friends, who were previously his enemies.

The movie is set in Detroit, Michigan. Walt’s house is an old style wooden house with an American flag hanging outside. He is also very house proud, as you see him doing chores around the house and cleaning his garden. This could be down to his military days, where he was made to clean and look his best. His neighbourhood is dirty and untidy and he is surrounded by families who have moved into the area from elsewhere. Walt’s habits, which are noticed throughout the movie, are that he always cleans his Gran Torino and drinks beer on his porch, while his dog sits and stares into the street. He is also very proud of his workshop, where has collected fifty years worth of tools and he knows exactly how to use them. Therefore, you can tell that Walt is a very old-fashioned stereotype of an American.

Walt is 78. He starts off at the start of the movie quite healthy. He then starts coughing up blood more often as the film progresses. He goes to hospital, after three years of not going. The Hmong characters notice that he is coughing up blood and become concerned, but Walt tells them not to mind. Walt then get results back from the hospital showing that he has lung cancer, so Walt tries to form a relationship with his sons, but they are not interested.

A scene which marks a particular turning-point in the film is when Thao takes command when moving the freezer – after Walt had reluctantly asked for help.

Walt realised who his true friends were after the attack and rape of Sue. After the shootout, he ran to help his Hmong neighbours, because he cared for them. After seeing Sue in that state, he lost his temper and smashed the glass cabinets and cupboards.

The climax of the movie is a scene which shows Walt’s turning point from a racist to a hero of the Hmong people. In this scene Walt makes the most extreme sacrifice – his life. In doing so, Walt is violently shot down by the Hmong gang. This leads to them being taken to prison, which, in turn, means that Thao and Sue can have a peaceful future. Eastwood has chosen this scene, because it shows the change in Walt’s racist beliefs.

The barber shop scene in the movie is when we see Walt become a role model to Thao. He takes Thao to the barber’s to try and toughen him up. Walt is showing Tao how to talk like a man by showing him how to ‘banter’ with the barber, then letting Thao have a shot at it. Thao fails in his first attempt and is sent back out to try again. This is when Walt first looks to become a father figure to Thao. This scene creates a humorous effect, but there is a strong message of friendship too.

In early scenes in the movie, Thao is seen asking Walt for help. An important turning-point in Walt’s relationship with his Hmong neighbours is when Walt goes to ask Tao for help in carrying a heavy freezer. This shows that a once independent man is having to swallow his pride and ask for help, because he is no longer able. It also tells the viewer that Walt is now accepting Tao’s friendship, because he never asks for his own family’s help. This scene is a mirror image of earlier scenes, when Tao appears at Walt’s door asking for help. A quotation in the film which proves this is when Tao says, ‘Now listen, old man, either I take the top, or I am going home.’ It shows that Walt is needing help and is a bit vulnerable at this point in the film.

During the film there is a racist theme. This is shown in the scene when Tao comes to Walt’s door asking for jump leads. Walt turns him away, saying he doesn’t have any. Later in the same sequence we see Walt using his own jump leads. The camera shows several point of view shots during their conversation. Then the camera shows Walt using the leads on his own car. This is the first time that you notice Walt’s racism and his past beliefs.