Movies You Should Watch Before Suicide: Gran Torino

Once while looking up a film on a well known movie site, I stumbled across a list of films with an interesting and unusual title.  It was called "Before You Wanna' Commit Suicide, Watch These First".  Now, those who know me know that I'm just odd enough to actually give some level of literal consideration to a title like this.  Of course, as was indicated by the author of the list, there was no serious thought given to the actual taking of one's own life or any other actual consideration of death.  It was just an unusual attempt at a creative title for what amounts to a "movie bucket list".  This list was an assembly of 692 films that the author of the list believed were of such quality that seeing them could qualify as some fashion of "life goal".  Long story short, a list of really, really good movies.

But, the thing is, me being me, I just couldn't resist thinking about the title of the list in a literal sense.  Just for kicks, mind you.  Now, for myself, I had to consider my personal taste in films.  The list was, by my standards, rather large and diverse.  So, my first move was to trim the list down to just the titles that appealed to my taste.  When I was done, I had a list that was only a fraction of the size of the original list.  Next, I considered the list that I gleaned from the original list in the context of the title of said original list.  My list got even smaller.  What I ended up with was a list of films that I thought would have a considerable influence on my state of mind if I were actually considering ending my own life.  I thought it could make for an interesting review.  

The 5th film in my list of films to see before I considered ending my life was "Gran Torino".  This film was released in 2008 and starred Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carly, Bee Vang, and Ahney Her.  Walt Kowalsky, after burying his wife, simply wants to be left alone.  An angry, very unhappy Korean war veteran, steeped in the war-born prejudices of the fifties, finds himself brought face to face with the dangerous realities of the neighborhood he raised his family in and has been living in since his return from Korea.  Along with the arrival of his new Hmong neighbors, he's also forced to deal with his strained relationship with his sons and their respective families.  Then a young Hmong teen from next door breaks into his garage in an attempt to steal his 1972 Gran Torino.  When this same teen is harassed by a Hmong street gang, Walt chases the gang members away when the harassment spills over on to his lawn.  Having inadvertently saved the young teen from being taken away by the street gang, he becomes, for all intents and practical purposes, a neighborhood hero.  And, when the young teen's mother and sister get Walt to allow him to make up for the attempt to steal his car by working for him for a couple of weeks, he becomes friends with the young teen, Tao, and his sister Sue.  It is at this point that he undertakes to get Tao started on a better path and wrest him from the grip of the Hmong street gang harassing him to join them.

This was what I would call a very uncomplicated story.  The center of this story was the relationship that developed between Tao and Walt.  The bond that formed between them seemed so terribly unlikely in light of Walt's prejudices.  Walt was a fifties era Korean War veteran.  He was hard, unhappy, and had less than no problem at all speaking his mind.  And he did so in the unmistakable fashion of a hardened soldier.  Tao was a young impressionable Hmong teen.  He was quiet and relatively unassertive, much to Walt's chagrin.  I thought that the relationship and bond that formed between him and Tao was about as unlikely as it could be given the circumstances.  Watching it grow throughout the film was inspirational.

Tao's sister Sue was a piece of work.  She was bright, intelligent, and what some might call "sassy".  She was able to see that, in spite of all the racism, underneath that gruff exterior, Walt was a good man.  Her ability to befriend Walt in spite of his demeanor was endearing.  She was the bridge between Walt and the rest of her family.  Through her Walt learned about her family, her people, and where they were from.  And, she was so able to take Walt's rough, inappropriate, comments in stride.  And she could give as good as she got.  Walt couldn't help but admire her.  She was strong and courageous and had no problem calling out wrong when she saw it.  She and her family came to mean a great deal to Walt.  As a matter of fact, he found himself able identify with Tao and the rest of her family better than he could with his own.

Clint Eastwood made the character of Walt Kowalski all his own.  In his first appearance on the screen, his face almost said it all.  His contempt for his own family wrote itself across his face.  And when he spoke, it became more and more evident with each successive word.  I found myself amused by Walt's expletive laced, racist comments largely because he made them as though he was completely
ignorant of how vulgar and inappropriate they were.  It was like the horrible and embarrassing comments he made were a matter of ordinary, everyday conversation.  It was my own knowledge of the "political incorrectness" of the things he said, coupled with his apparent ignorance of how off-color his comments were that made me laugh.  And when he found himself socializing with his Hmong neighbors, he couldn't pronounce anyone's name right.  And it was almost like he didn't care.  Not so much that he thought poorly of the family.  As I said before, he identified with them better than he did with his own family.  It's just that he knew that he was never going to get it right.  He knew the effort was pointless and, being who he was, his attitude was like "yeah, whatever."  Those that grew close to him learned to just accept it as a part of who he was.  He was set in his ways and those closest to him understood and accepted that about him.  A feat his own family was unable to pull off.

His interaction with the Hmong family as well as his efforts in the guidance of Tao endeared him (to some extent) to them all.  Especially to Tao and Sue.  Almost from the beginning of the movie, we are made aware that he is becoming ill.  Sue is among the first among the Hmong to realize that something is wrong.  When she asks him about it, he lies to her to put her off her concern.  His illness shows itself to Tao shortly thereafter and he too is not-so-easily put off his concern.  As his condition grows worse he is finally driven to seek medical attention.  Though it is never discussed, a grim fate is suggested by the test results he got back from the doctor's office.  When the Hmong family residence is attacked and Sue is assaulted, Walt makes a decision that not only gives him personal peace, but, provides a solution for his young friends and their family and puts an end to their troubles.

With respect to the difference between an escape film and an inspirational film, I'd have to say this was definitely inspirational.  I couldn't call this an escape movie of any kind.  It deals with very real problems that young people and their families have to face and deal with.  Problems that make the news on pretty much a daily basis.  But, out of the midst of the violence, this film paints a picture of friendship and bonding between people on opposite sides of age, cultural and ethnic lines that some might think impenetrable.

Now, if I were to think of this film in the context of something that I'd like to see before I end my existence in this world, I don't know if I would change my mind.  I'm inclined to think that, having seen this film, I might be inspired to find a way to make my passing of some use to someone.  Perhaps in some kind of self-sacrifice in the interest of someone important to me.  I might find some encouragement in the thought that perhaps I could find some peace in ending my life, but, I'm not too sure I would find the inspiration to change my mind.  Don't get me wrong.  I thought this was an awesome movie.  Worthy of anyone's "movie bucket list".  But, I think, for myself, at least, it would only serve to facilitate my search for peace in the decision to "end it all".  The end was sad, but, at the same time, triumphant.  Enough to end everything on a melancholy but pleasant note.