Gran Torino-the Death of Americanism.

There was a time, far beyond the memory of any living person, in which the doors of America were wide open. All who wished to be free of the chains of other nations were free to dock in our ports. Our culture was still in its formative years and we had little to represent us as a whole. But at some point this changed. Our doors slammed shut and we became afraid of everything foreign. Perhaps this is linked to the last century of international relations, soiled by massive wars and paranoia. I don’t know when it occurred. But we became very definitely American. In fact, anyone who does not subscribe to a very specific set of tenets is declared Un-American. This is difficult to comprehend, considering the creation of this country. It was meant to be a haven for all running from tyranny. In fact in New York’s harbor stands the Statue of Liberty where these word are inscribed: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore/ Send these, the homeless, tempest toss to me/I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” My point is that this very spirit of fraternity with the oppressed of the world was crushed by the last century. And Clint Eastwood, in his new film Gran Torino, is bringing that to our attention.

If there was ever a man more American than Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood’s character), I could not imagine him. He only drives Ford. He served his country in Korea. He makes it a part of his daily routine to drink PBR and sit on his front porch for several hours. He also uses more racial epithets than a Spike Lee film. He is the very incarnation of the modern American spirit. The film opens at his wife’s funeral, the last thing that kept him really going. All that he has left is his dog and his vintage mint condition 1972 Gran Torino. What infuriates him the most is that he is now the last "American" in his ghetto. They are encroaching from all sides to take the last vestige of dignity that he has. His son wants to put him in a nursing home and the neighbors hate him. It seems that the only reason he has left to live is to hold down the fort and protect it from these "gooks."

The ennui is broken when Thao, the boy next door is pressured into joining the local gang. His initiation is to steal the old man's prized Gran Torino. This is, ironically, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. After Walt catches him, Thao offers to make up for it by working for Walt for a week, during which time he takes a certain satisfaction out of making him do everything in the neighborhood. But the great part is that Walt starts to see Thao as a person. Despite the wave of slurs thrown at him like confetti, Thao is more than just a "damn zipperhead." Thao proceeds to get a job in construction and go legit. When the local gang notices this they attack him, making him feel like a kid again, and almost nullifying everything that Walt did to build his self esteem.

Walt realizes through his encounters with his neighbors, that there is no way out for them. They are stuck in a certain cycle that will either lead to their death or imprisonment. He begins to realize that the enemy is not a wave of immigrants, for these people have just as much a right to live here as we do.(These in particular helped the US in Vietnam, which may account for much of the sympathy Walt has for them). Rather there are deeper problems at the very heart of our society that we miss when we look at meaningless surface issues. The presence of this gang, for example, is rotting away the ghetto. Thao's sister, Sue, makes the insightful comment that the girls go to college and the boys go to jail. But the problem is not the presence of a gang. It is instead the fact that a gang can still do all sorts of evil, and get away with it. There is no one who has the nerve to break the stasis and do what is right, instead of what is easy. That is, until Walt Kowalski comes to town.

I havent yet spoken of the titular character, and it is a charcter. Though the Gran Torino only makes 10 appearances throughout the film, it remains the greatest catalyst and symbol in the film. It exists as Walt's manifestation of his raging Americanism. He sits around all day waxing it, making it beautiful, just to see how good it looks. But what good is a car if no one drives it. What good is a country that offers religious and personal freedom, if it is limited to the contemplation of an elite few? One of the great, albeit underplayed, scenes in the film is when Walt, without any suggestion, tells Thao to take the Gran Torino to his date that evening. It represents what I feel is at the very core of this film, namely, that freedom is meaningless if you can't share it with the disenfranchised.