I have not yet seen Gran Torino but I plan on it after reading the reviews. With three young kids my husband and I don’t get a lot of opportunity……

One quibble: can’t we have one major character who isn’t twisted by committing war crimes?

Up until 1960 or so, it was perfectly possible to tell a gripping story without recourse to gratuitous or graphic violence, or vulgar language. What changed?

I’ll pass on this one, as with so many others.

MrLynn on January 19, 2009 at 8:45 AM

Let me recommend Defiance. I saw it yesterday; it’s great.

Unfortunately, the gang doesn’t quit trying to either recruit Thao and begins terrorizing their family, prompting Kowalski into action.

Ed — this sentence does not make sense. The word “either” is probably an artifact remaining from a previous version that you edited out. You might want to remove the word.

Walt Kowalski tries this, too, only it backfires when Kowalski realizes that the gang-bangers can’t get out-terrorized.

An incorrect premise. The problem is the terror recipe for them is substantially nastier for the gang bangers than he is willing to employ.

I’ll pass on this one, as with so many others.

Pits are a worthless breed and should be rendered extinct.

csdeven on January 18, 2009 at 5:56 PM

I have owned two pits. Zero issues.

You are a moron.

The generational differences between Walt and Thao vividly depicts the behavior and speech of my father’s generation. I saw my father in Walt as he used racial and ethnic slurs up to the day he died and never thought it was wrong with his speech, even though near the end of his life he used them less when my children were around.

I would recommend this film to everyone 13 and older, as younger audiences may not be able to relate to Walt’s generation.

ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on January 18, 2009 at 4:05 PM

Oh great! Another one!

Pits were bred to be aggressive…PERIOD. ANYTHING that triggers their aggressive instincts will be attacked. If you doubt it, simple get a hold of a family whose “gentle” Pit mauled or killed a child.

Pits are a worthless breed and should be rendered extinct.

Dogs are bred for certain traits. Pits for example are overly aggressive because those traits are watched for and encouraged. These fools who constantly whine about how their Pit is gentle as a lamb have simply be fortunate that those aggressive traits were never triggered. For every one of them the “gentle” Pits, there is another who has mauled a neighbor or family member. And these dogs were never trained to be aggressive. There are such things as “bad” dogs. Mostly in their breeds.
….
csdeven on January 18, 2009 at 10:05 AM

You’re 180 degrees wrong. Pit bulls are not bred to be aggressive towards people at all, though they can be aggressive towards other dogs, as most dogs can.

The most potentially dangerous dogs you can own are the ones that are territorial and protective, such as Dobermans, German Shepherds, and Rottweilers. Of course, these are also the very dogs you want to buy if you’re getting one for protection.

But if you’re getting a dog for protection, don’t buy a Pit Bull. That is not what they’re bred for.

Unless you simply want to buy a dog that looks impressive enough to intimidate others. In such a case, the Pit Bull looks scary, while actually being quite gentle.

It’s not the gentle Pit Bulls that are the exceptions, but the vicious few. The problem there are people who get a Pit Bull because it looks scary, then train it to be vicious. That’s almost criminal, because they’re uncommonly good pets.

One aspect no one’s commented on yet is the theme of Confession. Walt is Roman Catholic, so for his character (and for the film) the Catholic idea of Confession and Penance is a theme that ties the movie together from start to finish. Remember that it was his wife’s dying wish that the priest get Walt to attend confession and achieve the peace his soul needed but could never find. The priest attempted to do this diligently throughout the film, but when Walt confesses to him he just talks about some minor things and is given some minor penance in return. (10 Hail Mary’s) But wait – that isn’t the end of this theme, because in the basement with Tao, he DOES confess to Tao exactly what’s been eating on him all these years – he shot a young man who only wanted to surrender in the face and got a medal for it. THAT’S the confession his wife knew he needed to make. Why confess to Tao, and not to the priest? Because Tao is, to Walt, the same kind of man as the one he had wronged all those years ago. He needed to confess to the ones he had wronged, not to some dispassionate third party. And what penance is then appropriate, what *to Walt* will redeem him from the guilt he’s felt for so long? For taking a life, he must save a life, with his own life. The shedding of blood calls for blood sacrifice – and now, at the last moment of his life he is able to end it at complete peace with himself. He has found his redemption, as his wife knew he needed to, and as we were told he needed at the very beginning of the film. Not through the priest, but through his own sacrifice.

To drive home this point visually, after the confrontation Walt lays on the ground with his arms splayed out in the form of a crucifix. Hardly a coincidence.

One aspect no one’s commented on yet is the theme of Confession. Walt is Roman Catholic, so for his character (and for the film) the Catholic idea of Confession and Penance is a theme that ties the movie together from start to finish. Remember that it was his wife’s dying wish that the priest get Walt to attend confession and achieve the peace his soul needed but could never find. The priest attempted to do this diligently throughout the film, but when Walt confesses to him he just talks about some minor things and is given some minor penance in return. (10 Hail Mary’s) But wait – that isn’t the end of this theme, because in the basement with Tao, he DOES confess to Tao exactly what’s been eating on him all these years – he shot a young man who only wanted to surrender in the face and got a medal for it. THAT’S the confession his wife knew he needed to make. Why confess to Tao, and not to the priest? Because Tao is, to Walt, the same kind of man as the one he had wronged all those years ago. He needed to confess to the ones he had wronged, not to some dispassionate third party. And what penance is then appropriate, what *to Walt* will redeem him from the guilt he’s felt for so long? For taking a life, he must save a life, with his own life. The shedding of blood calls for blood sacrifice – and now, at the last moment of his life he is able to end it at complete peace with himself. He has found his redemption, as his wife knew he needed to, and as we were told he needed at the very beginning of the film. Not through the priest, but through his own sacrifice.

To drive home this point visually, after the confrontation Walt lays on the ground with his arms splayed out in the form of a crucifix. Hardly a coincidence.

Wampus on January 18, 2009 at 2:34 AM

Thats why multigenerational/blood citizens make sure your interpretation doesn’t happen.

As per the politically incorrect language, how refreshing for self sufficient and law abiding old men to speak normally without being prosecuted for “hate language”

No one here has suggested prosecution for racial slurs, but that doesn’t make it right. If you want to know how it might feel to hear such things, take your family to a rural part of Dubai & hang around until someone calls your kids “white devils”.–jgapinoy on January 18, 2009 at 10:11 AM

Hate crimes are all crimes. But those involving persecution of “special” people get “special” prosecution. Progressive evolution is what I noted. You agree with me that regardless of who you are, regardless of where you are, there is someone who will call you a name that you don’t like. You agree with my premise, get over it. See it for what it is, nothing more or less. And get over it.

My point is that PC revisionism only benefits socialism and only hurts our American Constitutional heritage, government and legacy of ‘life, liberty and happiness’.

As per “old farts”–remember that the same folks who label them the “greatest generation” are the same who call them bigots.

Labeling previous generations as “bigots” is just another way to practice bigotry’s newest vogue. Politically correctness is bigotry.

Bigotry exists just as people are imperfect. Admitting our own fallibility is the first step to maturity; and maturity is NOT perfection (anyone presuming that maturity is perfection is a bigot). The willingness to overlook others’ faults while ironically satirizing their essence proved whether or not you could “fit in” to the melting pot rather than isolate into the gangland of your own inbred identity. That inbred ID is the expression of one’s own determination to be intolerant of the melting pot folks who practice their own “tolerance” that vents w/o violence via slurs.

Tomato. Tomato.
Potato. Potato.
Comparing racial nicknames vs. the self-righteous hyphenated politically correct racial ID brings to mind, “a rose is a rose.”

The old fart was not calling women c*nts or whores or anything truly PERSONALLY offensive regarding character.

So far as fitting into society, one’s racial profile is only skin deep. Being color blind is offensive to any race that wants special treatment.

Voters who make their own racial profile the only thing that matters in the world, refusing to get over themselves, are turning everyone into the downtrodden and removing all means to revive the spirit of e pluribus unum.

All of history is being blotted out by socialists because someone somewhere is offended by what happened and refuses to get over it, even though it didn’t happen to them, and no longer happens, and laws now prevent any word of recall or REASON. Enlightenment, Liberalism, Marriage, Revisionism.

If you want to know how it might feel to hear such things, take your family to a rural part of Dubai & hang around until someone calls your kids “white devils”.

jgapinoy on January 18, 2009 at 10:11 AM

Somebody call the Waaaaaaaabulance. I suppose those people should hide in their houses and wait for the government to make it right by giving them entitlements? My kids were taught to judge bigots and never accept any label on themselves that isn’t based in fact.

And since when do whites have to visit foreign countries to be called such names? Whites as an entire race are judged as white devils in this country. Especially by the MSM. I am not going to let it affect my ability to be successful. I WILL adapt to any treatment, fair or not. Success knows no color in a capitalist society. In Oslime-a’s society, skin color is the determining factor for success.