Jamie passion and passionfruit!

This film had mixed reviews but for my money is as good as anything seen out this year.  Clint Eastwood gives us a great grumpy non-PC Korean veteran in Walt, forced to confront his wife’s death and his new neighbours, an extended family of Hmong Vietnamese in his run down part of Detroit.  Walt repels the church and his own family’s guilt-saving intentions to find himself sucked into the world of the neighbours as in his role of security guard of his property he defends the teenage son and daughter next door from marauding gangs of both black and Vietnamese origins.  He learns a few new things in his begrudging way and he dusts down his old soldier skills and a bit of Dirty Harry in the process.  This film has much to consider on many levels.  There is Eastwood’s own acting and directing talent – his composition of Walt is a terrific characterization of a man of his age and experience and as a piece of acting you seldom see the like.  Then there is the whole baggage he brings to the film from his career.  The issue of who is one’s neighbour, of the assimilation of immigrants, of the fading of old Yankee standards (the car Gran Torino is a symbol of this) is another aspect as is the question of law and order and protection of one’s property.  Add to that modern aspects of racism and the role of the church, and the humour of insults and you have a rich array of levels on which to watch the movie.  Bee Vang and Ahney Her are satisfactory in the supporting roles but this is Eastwood’s film with the help of Nick Schenk’s cracking script.  While this may not be a masterpiece, it is a master class in characterization and story telling and for that Clint deserves all the accolades he can get.

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