Gran Torino - 經典老爺車

Gran Torino (經典老爺車) is a 2008 film. The movie stars Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, and Ahney Her. This is a mainstream Hollywood film that features Hmong American as a prominent part of the storyline.

The movie starts at the funeral of Walt Kowalski's, played by Clint Eastwood, wife. The story eventually follows Walt back to his home and his broken relationship with his two sons. Walt was a Korean war veteran and worked at a Ford plant for 50 years before retiring. Now retired and widowed, Walt spends a lot of his time on his porch. Walt's neighborhood has progressively transformed into a ethnic community with a high concentration of Hmong. His next door neighbors are a Hmong family of a grandmother, mother, daughter and son. Walt befriends Sue, played by Ahney Her, after Walt helps Sue's brother, Thao, played by Bee Vang, out. Thao has been recruited repeatedly to join a Hmong gang. And the night before, Thao tried to steal Walt's 1972 Gran Torino as an initiation, but failed. Sue and family eventually get to know Walt more. Thao is forced to serve Walt for 2 weeks to work off his wrong doing. In that time, Walt teaches Thao how to be "handy". And they strike up a friendly relationship. Walt even gets Thao a job as a construction worker. But things go south when the gang wants Thao to join again and uses many scare tactics.

The movie was pretty intense and it was interesting to see "Hmong" life onscreen. Was it accurate? I have no idea. I'll be honest that I do not know much of anything about the Hmong. The portrayal seemed to be sympathetic.

The movie did feature Walt splitting out racists remarks the whole way. It did drive home Walt's character, but the message seemed to express that its normal to be racists. It is not ok to be racist. Regardless of your background, life experiences. However, this is a very "American" type of thought pattern. Chinese pop culture is extremely racist.

I liked and dis-liked the film at the same time. The movie was well made and is an inspirational story. But at the same time, it was another story of how a white man saves the Asians from their own destruction. Because, as Hollywood would like you know, there's no hope for the Asians. Especially if you leave them to fend for themselves among their own.