Gran Torino (2008)

I think so many reviewers and people I've talked to completely missed the mark on this movie. Too many people have dwelled on the comedy of it, and have called it a revenge flick, or Oscar bait. All of which are respectfully flat out wrong assessments. This is easily my favorite movie of 2008.

Yes, there was comedy, but it was sporadic, and well done when it was actually supposed to executed. Too many immature idiots are seeing this movie and giggling at every racial slur Clint mumbles as if he was uttering "penis" and "vagina" in their 7th grade health class. Either that or they are for what ever reason overly offended by it due to our cultures sometimes absurd devotion to political correctness. Unfortunately though, these points, are just a few of the many things baring them from actually getting the damn point of the movie.

I really feel this movie addressed age, and the relationship between the parents of baby boomers, and the grandchildren, quite incredibly well, and with complete accuracy. It reminded me so much of the dynamic I've seen with a lot of my relatives and their relationship with my grandparents over the years, and how they have treated my grandparents, and how it really is sometimes downright disgusting. This is what ultimately made me choke up a bit at the end of the movie, not the physical act of what transpires, but the consequences of it.

Sure crotchety old men like old Walt are racist old bastards half the time, but they are products of their god damn environment, not that that is supposed to be a validating statement for their actions, but the way they are treated (and used), sometimes is just incredibly fucked and undeserved.

The dynamic between Walt and his neighbors really made me think about his life attitude like looking at a different foreign (in all senses of the word, not just ethnicity wise) culture. A narrow minded individual could call their customs and ways of life barbaric, absurd, or just downright weird, and in the film (and similar life experiences) Walt way of life is essentially the same damn thing.

But, what should we do when we come across something foreign to us? Well, the intelligent ones amongst us fucking learn from it...we don't follow their ways but see the value in them, and are fascinated by ways unlike our own and how we've progresed. Next time you bitch about your pissed off old pop or father, think about what you could learn from them, not that they are just bickering. The fact is their time is almost up, and before long well all lose our damn link with the past. It's a sad fact that all too many of us overlook and will ultimately regret when we are old and withered.

The message of this movie is one that I really think I have rarely seen presented so well, and in a way that actually made me critically think about it. It wasn't some over-indulgent, grandiose melodrama about life and death that was supposed to touch my heart (I'm looking at you Benjamin Button). It was a tale that beat me bluntly over the side of the head with it's veracity and devotion to challenging its viewers.

People who don't want to see the message in Gran Torino can easily neglect it, and oddly that's what I admire about Eastwood's filmmaking. He ain't going to hold your god damn hand, rather he expects you to firmly shake it, and respect, trust and embrace the man and the mind on the other end.