“Gran Torino” A story of “inheritance to the next generation” and “redemption” that could only be achieved by Eastwood *Note! Contains spoilers.

*This article touches on the ending of the story, so we recommend watching the movie before reading it.

"Gran Torino" synopsis

Walt is a stubborn old man who lost his wife and lives alone. He is unforgiving, curses at disrespectful young people, and points a rifle at anyone who even takes a step onto his lawn. Even his sons don't want to approach him. Tao is a young boy who doesn't go to school, doesn't have a job, and doesn't know what path he should take. He has no father as a role model. Although the two were next to each other, they didn't even exchange greetings. Until one day, Tao tries to steal Walt's most cherished vintage car, the Gran Torino.

When Walt accepts Tao's apology, a mysterious relationship between the two begins. Tao gains confidence as a man through the labor given to him by Walt. Walt finds joy in his goal of making Tao a full-fledged man. However, Tao and his family's lives are put in danger due to a foolish fight. What is Walt's final decision to protect his future?

Index

• The movie in which Eastwood was shot for the first time
• Walt Kowalski as a typical conservative American
• Encounter between Polish Americans and Hmong people
• Eastwood doesn't pull the trigger

The movie in which Eastwood was shot for the first time

Clint Eastwood has an immortal body. “ Hang them high! Even though he was hanged for a long time in `` The Gauntlet '' (1977), the bus he rode in was turned into a honeycomb in ``The Gauntlet'' (1977), and he was shot six times in `` The Pale Rider '' (1985). , he will definitely come back from the brink of death. No matter how you look at it, the story doesn't make sense, but people like that just ignore it! It is a privilege given to us movie fans to witness the exploits of Eastwood, the man who never dies, on screen.

However, Gran Torino, released in 2008, was an incident. This is because it was the first movie in Eastwood's history where he was shot. Film director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who is a professed Eastwood fan, describes his shock as follows.

"Gran Torino" made me feel uneasy with every cut, so I couldn't watch it calmly. Of course I was moved, but more than that it was painful... One reason for this is that at the end, he gets shot in the chest, and the moment I saw that, I thought, ``This person has been shot in the chest many times.'' (snip) But this time, it seems like he really died. Of course, I'm talking about the characters in the play, but since the director was the main character, I felt an irreversible sense of disappointment, as if the author and the main character had died at the same time.

(Excerpt from Eureka Clint Eastwood Special )

"Gran Torino" preview

The ``feeling of disappointment'' that Kiyoshi Kurosawa describes is a feeling that anyone who has continued to watch Eastwood's films will feel. To this extent, we have identified Eastwood himself with the main character played by Eastwood. Who would have imagined that the day would come when the story would end at his funeral?

But his death was inevitable. ``Gran Torino'' is a story of Clint Eastwood's ``inheritance to the next generation'' and ``redemption.''

(*)reference:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1205489/trivia?item=tr2943675

Walt Kowalski as a typical conservative American