GRAN TORINO  

By: Mario Bautista

CLINT EASTWOOD made two films last year: "Changeling" and "Gran Torino". "Changeling" got an Oscar best actress nomination for Angelina Jolie, but it did poorly at the box office. "Gran Torino" was ignored by academy voters, but it's a blockbuster and has so far raked in more than $120 million at the box office.

It starts with the funeral of the wife of Walt Kowalski (Clint), a Korean War veteran who's now an irascible old curmudgeon. He lives alone with his dog and is alienated from his materialistic sons and grandchildren. He turns down the offer of a young priest, Fr. Janovich (Christopher Carley), to help him. He also feels bad that their neighborhood is now populated by Asian immigrants and their gangs.

He ignores the Asian family who lives next door whose son, the shy Thao (Bee Vang), tried to steal Walt's treasured 1972 Gran Torino car as ordered by his relatives who formed a gang of thugs. Walt threatens to shoot him with his rifle so he runs away. Thao doesn't really want to be a member of the gang and when the goons try to force him to join them, he fights and Walt comes to his rescue with his shotgun once more, ordering the punks to get off his lawn. Because of this, Walt becomes a hero for the Asians in the community who bring him all sorts of gifts. They're mostly from Laos and Thailand. They helped the Americans during the Vietnam war and settled in the American Midwest through the help of Lutherans.

Walt also later rescues Thao's elder sister, Sue (Ahney Her), from a group of street goons who try to molest her. Thao is made to serve Walt for trying to steal his car and eventually, they become a team of mentor and student as Walt is a skilled handyman with a good collection of tools. Sue invites Walt to a party in their house and he meets her relatives. He later tells himself: "I have more in common with these gooks than with my own spoiled, rotten family." This is after his son told him he should move to a nursing home so they can sell his house. When the Asian gang continues harrassing Thao, who has become his good friend, Walt realizes that the future of Thao will never be good with the gang around. So he makes a final decision.

Written by Nick Schenk and directed by Clint himself, "Gran Torino" is easy to dismiss as a simplistic anti-racism parable, but what it shows is the touching transformation of a sad and prejudiced old man into a caring neighbor who makes the protection of Sue and Thao his personal mission. Clint gives a sterling portrayal of a man whose biases are erased by his friendship with his Asian neighbors. He has won as Oscar best director award but he has never won for acting, so he probably acted in this film hoping he'd get affirmation, too, as an actor. But the academy members ignored him.

late John Wayne, also an icon in Hollywood like Clint, won before for his portrayal of an aging cowboy in "True Grit". Everyone knows it's a sentimental win and no one complained. Honestly, Clint in "Gran Torino" gives a much more touching portrayal as an annoying old man who gains redemption as a fatherly figure to his oppressed neighbors, but academy voters probably think he already has two Oscars as best director so he no longer needs another one for acting.

If you think that Clint will be his usual Dirty Harry self who punishes the villains singlehandedly, you'd be in for a surprise. But come to think of it, he still does that, although in a totally different manner that will surely affect viewers.

Clint is really so talented that he also composed the film's music and fetching theme song. He is superbly supported by his Asian co-stars. Bee Vang as Thao has the right chemistry with Clint in showing the development of their friendship that is ala-Scrooge and Tiny Tim. Ahney Her as Sue brings energy to her role and shines especially in that scene where she tours Walt around their house and she retorts to his racist comments with her own witty quips.