Gran Torino is a mixed bag of a film. On the one hand the film is good at sending out a message that gang culture is not a good thing - and for this to be aimed at the Hmong community in a mainstream Hollywood film is probably something of a rarity; yet all ethnic groups do indeed need to be reminded of this. Walt's behaviour in socialising with his Hmong neighbours is in contradiction to his constant use of racial slurs - implying that the latter is more superficial than deep-seated and actually belies his natural inclinations; and so that also is a good thing. And there are also strong pro-family messages in the film, both implicitly with Walt taking Thao under his wing as a kind of surrogate father, and more explicitly through the behaviour of Walt's son (who tries to get his father packed away to a retirement home) being portrayed in a clearly negative light. This latter point could also be seen to be anti-segregation; in effect applauding Walt's decision to stay in his neighbourhood.

Against this, along with said continual use of racial slurs there is also a barrage of rough language - all played off for unoriginal and juvenile laughs a la 'Falling Down'. At one point Sue (top left in the six photos above) is also portrayed in a 'cool' light for holding her own against a group of thugs through her own use of crude language. The biggest issue I take with the film though is the overall message that peace can only be obtained through bloodshed and prison sentences - whereas this is not the case. To send people to prison in itself is no long-term solution and doesn't as Walt says in the film "put an end to things". Prison is often just a perpetuation of a cycle of violence and sin and offers no real freedom to people - a freedom that can only be found through forgiveness and the acceptance of Jesus Christ into one's life. And it's on the back of that message that I take some issue with the portrayal of the Catholic priest in this film. On the plus side it was good to see a priest character in a Hollywood film, and a young one at that. And this faith dimension was also a good reminder to people that the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) is still alive and available in the Catholic Church. However, overall Fr Janovich's attitude was in-synch with the culture of death as asserted to through the overall message spelt out above. Fr Janovich even went so far as to say that Walt had taught him something through his actions. Yet this isn't what society needs - society needs to know that it's prayer, fasting, the sacraments and the Word of God that we turn to defeat evil - not needless self sacrifice. And so in this respect the priest's character came across as rather weak to me - though again this was mixed a message as at least he was in the situation trying to help resolve things in the first place.

On the way home from watching this film I couldn't help but think how good it would be to make an updated version of 'The Cross and the Switchblade' or even an adaptation of Catholic evangelist John Pridmore's book 'From Gang Land to Promised Land' - offering young people; both gang members and non-gang members alike, a real chance of true freedom and peace.

One further afterthought: there was a point in Gran Torino when Walt says that what disturbed him most about his war activities was not what he was asked to do, but what he was not asked to do. This is implicit ackowledgement that evil manifests itself equally, if not more so, in the form of doing nothing with regard to a particular evil situation, as it does in the form the actual evil situation/action itself: a point rarely ackowledged.