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

Walt Kowalski as a typical conservative American

According to an interview, Eastwood came across the script for Gran Torino during the composing stage of Changeling (2008). After reading the script by Nick Schenck, who is making his debut as a screenwriter, he immediately decided to direct and star in the film.

The main character, Walt Kowalski, played by Eastwood, is a former auto mechanic who once served in the Korean War, a machismo who believes in toughness and toughness, and a bigoted racist who repeatedly makes racist remarks. Nick Schenck, who grew up in Minnesota in the Midwest of the United States and worked as a construction site driver for a long time, was surrounded by many such men. Kowalski is not a delinquent character created for the film, but a direct reflection of a real-life conservative American.

"Gran Torino" (c)2009 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

Additionally, Nick Schenck assigned Kowalski a Polish-American character. Being called Polish doesn't really ring a bell for us Japanese people, but for now, let's list the names of famous people. Billy Wilder (film director), Alan J. Pakula (film director), Lauren Bacall (actress), Scarlett Johansson (actress), Charles Bukowski (writer), Marilyn Manson (musician), Hulk Hogan ( (pro wrestler), Bernie Sanders (politician), Carl Sagan (astronomer)... Hmm, that's a very rich-looking group of people.

Although the data is a bit old, according to the 2010 US Census, 3.0% of the population was of Polish descent. Germans ranked first at 17.1%, followed by Africans at 13.6%, Irish at 11.6%, and second only to Italians at 7th at 5.9%. Even in America, which is said to be the melting pot of humanity, they are probably a minority.

Encounter between Polish Americans and Hmong people