Sunday, March 07, 2010

Gran Torino




[story] A ex-Korean war soldier Walt Kowalski spent his life in solitude because of the death of his wife and conflicts with his sons. His only pleasure is his 72 Ford Gran Torino. One day, an Asian Hmong family moved next door. Walt, who was a racist, didn't like this situation, but communication between the two began by accident...

[my impression] I don't hesitate to admire the director Clint Eastwood. This is a masterpiece, not only the part of describing the importance of communication between different culture and the question of "What can I do when I am elderly?", but also the deeply impressive ending. It was not heavier than "Million Dollar Baby", but this work also has heavy a "true theme" after the middle part which features a heart warming scene. At the ending, I felt a deep resonance and I was moved. Eastwood's work always leaves an impression on me. Because of this work, I ranked him up at the top of my director's ranking.

After a brief interval of my appreciation, I felt that Eastwood asked me "What can I do when I am elderly?" I'm 39 now, which means that I am not a man like Tao (a Hmong boy who learned many things from Walt), but a man like Walt. In the rest of my life, what will I hand over to younger people, including my son? Will I get it right about incidents involving me like Walt? In my everyday life, I don't think about such a theme. This film gave me that theme.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I agree! I loved that movie even though it made me cry :) It made me think quite a bit about different cultures and how people need to talk to one another to understand. Great write up!!

Yoshiteru said...

Thanks for your comment, Sarah. I also feel the importance of communication between different cultures from this movie. It is one of my reasons to learn English.