The film that answers the burning question... where does wool come from????
Sweetgrass at the IMDB
The official Sweetgrass web site
Sweetgrass at the IMDB
The official Sweetgrass web site
Recently in Film Review Category
A few years ago, I talked about a film called Joyeux Noël, on Bloodthirsty Vegetarians Podcast #0047. It was about a bunch of soldiers in WWI who called a truce on Xmas day, and met in the no-mans-land between the trenches, and celebrated Xmas together. It was based on a real story, and two years ago, on the History Channel, I saw a show about that very subject. Joyeux Noël is simply one of the best Christmas films ever, and I encourage you all to see it.
Perhaps one day I will do a proper review.
Wassail!
First, I think I need to come clean. Full disclosure and all of that stuff. When I was in high school, I was a total Metal Head. The first two Ozzy albums with Randy Rhoads, The Scorpions, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden... they all did it for me. In addition to being a Metal Head, I did lighting for, and toured with, a popular, local Metal band.
Second, I am writing this entry with a total buzz on, after finishing a six pack of gluten free Bard's Beer, while watching the film.
Third, I am going to write this with no editing. Straight from the heart. Stream of consciousness, and all that, which is a first for me. To hell with grammatically and syntactically correct English!
OK. This film has been called a Spinal Tap about a real band. After watching it, I agree on many levels. In Spinal Tap we had the core of the band which was essentially Nigel and David, who refer to themselves and brothers, and in Anvil, we have Lips and Robb, who do the same. Another bizarre and yet very cool coincidence is that the drummer in Anvil is Robb Reiner, and the director of Spinal Tap was Rob Reiner.
Both bands have struggled for decades trying to make it in the topsy turvy world of rock and roll, except the one difference is that Anvil is real.
These are guys who work thankless, boring day-jobs, in order to be able to afford to be able to try and make it in the Metal scene.
In the beginning of the film, we see some pretty famous guys like Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Lars Ulrich (Metallica) talking about the great promise that the band had in their early days, and yet how they never seemed to be able to live up to the hype, due to poor management, or any other number of things.
They struggled for decades, in relative obscurity, releasing twelve records, and then out of the blue, someone decided to make a film about them. Pretty random, and pretty cool.
While making the film they get an email from a European fan, who has booked a European tour for them, which includes some festivals, and some smaller club shows. Unfortunately, as is often the case in the real world, these bands who put their hearts and souls into their careers often get screwed by promoters and club owners, and get little financial reward for their efforts. As a guy who did lighting in the '80s for a fairly popular regional Metal act, I can totally relate. I can't tell you how many gigs we played, where the club owner would come up to us after the show, to tell us that he couldn't pay us the previously agreed upon price, or at all, because they didn't have a good night at the bar.
At the end of the day, we are all just people struggling to make it in a cruel world. The difference between the guys in Anvil, and many of the other people on the planet, is perseverance. Yes, things didn't necessarily work out for them the way they had intended, and had hoped, but they're not letting that stop them. They may not be the biggest Heavy Metal act in the world, but their perseverance has paid off in the form of a critically acclaimed film, which has led to some some pretty high profile gigs. I would venture to guess that in the last year, they have sold more records, and played to more people, then they have in the previous twenty nine years, combined.
We always see and hear uplifting stories about different people who overcome all sorts of obstacles on their way to success. While we don't know what the eventual outcome for Anvil will be, what the guys in Anvil do know, is that the struggle is often the best part, and that the journey is worth it, regardless. No regrets.
Because I have spent many years working in and around the music business, and because I was, and still am a bit of a Metal Head (it never truly leaves us), I wish nothing but success for Anvil. I look forward to the next film, where we see them headlining as the Metal gods that they are.
Run, don't walk to the video store, to rent this film.
Anvil! The Story Of Anvil at the Internet Movie Database
The official Anvil! movie web site
Anvil's official web site
Second, I am writing this entry with a total buzz on, after finishing a six pack of gluten free Bard's Beer, while watching the film.
Third, I am going to write this with no editing. Straight from the heart. Stream of consciousness, and all that, which is a first for me. To hell with grammatically and syntactically correct English!
OK. This film has been called a Spinal Tap about a real band. After watching it, I agree on many levels. In Spinal Tap we had the core of the band which was essentially Nigel and David, who refer to themselves and brothers, and in Anvil, we have Lips and Robb, who do the same. Another bizarre and yet very cool coincidence is that the drummer in Anvil is Robb Reiner, and the director of Spinal Tap was Rob Reiner.
Both bands have struggled for decades trying to make it in the topsy turvy world of rock and roll, except the one difference is that Anvil is real.
These are guys who work thankless, boring day-jobs, in order to be able to afford to be able to try and make it in the Metal scene.
In the beginning of the film, we see some pretty famous guys like Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Lars Ulrich (Metallica) talking about the great promise that the band had in their early days, and yet how they never seemed to be able to live up to the hype, due to poor management, or any other number of things.
They struggled for decades, in relative obscurity, releasing twelve records, and then out of the blue, someone decided to make a film about them. Pretty random, and pretty cool.
While making the film they get an email from a European fan, who has booked a European tour for them, which includes some festivals, and some smaller club shows. Unfortunately, as is often the case in the real world, these bands who put their hearts and souls into their careers often get screwed by promoters and club owners, and get little financial reward for their efforts. As a guy who did lighting in the '80s for a fairly popular regional Metal act, I can totally relate. I can't tell you how many gigs we played, where the club owner would come up to us after the show, to tell us that he couldn't pay us the previously agreed upon price, or at all, because they didn't have a good night at the bar.
At the end of the day, we are all just people struggling to make it in a cruel world. The difference between the guys in Anvil, and many of the other people on the planet, is perseverance. Yes, things didn't necessarily work out for them the way they had intended, and had hoped, but they're not letting that stop them. They may not be the biggest Heavy Metal act in the world, but their perseverance has paid off in the form of a critically acclaimed film, which has led to some some pretty high profile gigs. I would venture to guess that in the last year, they have sold more records, and played to more people, then they have in the previous twenty nine years, combined.
We always see and hear uplifting stories about different people who overcome all sorts of obstacles on their way to success. While we don't know what the eventual outcome for Anvil will be, what the guys in Anvil do know, is that the struggle is often the best part, and that the journey is worth it, regardless. No regrets.
Because I have spent many years working in and around the music business, and because I was, and still am a bit of a Metal Head (it never truly leaves us), I wish nothing but success for Anvil. I look forward to the next film, where we see them headlining as the Metal gods that they are.
Run, don't walk to the video store, to rent this film.
Anvil! The Story Of Anvil at the Internet Movie Database
The official Anvil! movie web site
Anvil's official web site
When I went to last night's showing of 'The Cove' at MWPAI, I knew that the I was going to witness horrific scenes of dolphins being killed, but I had no idea how one of the people in the film would be connected to my childhood and perhaps yours, as well as how this film would be connected to a previous post that I wrote on this blog.
The film is centered around Ric O'Barry, and his passionate mission to insure that dolphins are no longer subject to captivity, and hunting. At first I didn't quite understand why Mr. O'Barry was so passionate on this subject, but it became clear as I watched the film. In short, Mr. O'Barry is partly (if not largely) responsible for the world's fascination with these amazing creatures. After he left the Navy in the early 1960's, he was hired as a Dolphin trainer at the Miami Seaquarium. He was then hired to capture and train Dolphins to be used on the Flipper television show, which debuted on the NBC television network in 1964. If you are of my generation, you surely have seen and enjoyed the show.
At the time, he recognized the extraordinary intelligence that Dolphins possessed, but as he admits in the film, the lure of money and 'a new Porsche every year' was hard to deny for a young man. The event that turned him from Dolphin-trainer-for-hire, to Dolphin protector and activist, was when one of the Bottlenose Dolphins that portrayed Flipper, named Kathy, swam into his arms, and he believes, committed suicide. He supports this claim with the widely acknowledged fact that Dolphins (and indeed all Cetaceans) are voluntary air-breathers, and unlike humans, and many other land-dwelling mammals, have the ability to choose when they take a breath, or when they do not. According to O'Barry, after weeks of showing signs of depression, Kathy swam into his arms, opened her blowhole to take a breath, and then never took another. The very next day, activist O'Barry was arrested for freeing a dolphin from captivity near Bimini.
Much of the film takes place in a Japanese city called Taiji where there is a yearly hunt in which Dolphins are 'herded' into a cove whereupon some are sold to aquariums from around the world, and the rest are killed for their meat. The goal of the people in this film was to be able to get the slaughter on film, and in so doing, created a documentary that is unlike any documentary I have ever seen.
The cove where the slaughter takes place is actually part of a local park, that has been fenced off so that no one can see what takes place there. Anyone who is not a part of the Taiji fishing crew is not allowed in the cove. O'Barry and company had many problems to overcome to be able to secretly film in the cove, including camouflaging Hi-Def cameras to look like rocks, locating them in and around the cove without being caught, positioning underwater microphones, and building a radio-controlled helicopter to attempt to get aerial footage. Doing all of these things required recruiting people with talents as wildly varied as Hollywood special-effects artists, and world-class Freedivers. The scenes where the team sneaked into the cove under the cover of darkness were as tense as any drama I have seen.
The footage that they shot was as horrific and disturbing as I had imagined, and everyone should see it. Sadly, however, this was one of the more poorly attended films that I have seen in a while, and I suspect it's precisely because people did not want to see it. I can only hope that this film will change things.
As a vegetarian, I obviously oppose the killing of animals for food, but I would think that any reasonable person would oppose the captivity and slaughter of a life form that is likely sentient. In addition to that, Dolphin meat is among the most highly toxic meats on the planet due to very high Mercury levels, so it's simply not a good food source.
In the film, Mr. O'Barry spoke about why captivity is so stressful for Dolphins. I had never really thought that deeply about it before, but as an Audio Engineer, once he made his point, it was like being hit by a hammer. Dolphins are acoustic creatures that evolved in the oceans and use a highly-sensitive and sophisticated natural Sonar array to help them navigate. You know... the incredibly huge oceans that aren't bounded by concrete walls? Now imagine being a creature that uses Sonar, and being forced to live in what must seem like a minuscule concrete cage. When a dolphin uses its Sonar in such a confined space with such reflective surfaces, it must be awful. I can only imagine that due to that, confinement for Dolphins must be hellish. I can relate to this because even as a human without a Sonar array, doing audio work (recording, mixing, mastering) in small rooms with reflective parallel walls creates great difficulties.
In my first paragraph I alluded to a connection between this film and a previous post on this blog. If you're a regular reader you will no doubt remember my review of the Animal Planet television series called Whale Wars. Captain Paul Watson of the 'Steve Irwin' was quoted several times in this film, and they also used footage from 'Whale Wars' depicting Japanese whaling. It should come as no surprise to you that the governing body that oversees Japanese whaling, also oversees the capture and slaughter of Dolphins. It's amazing how things sometimes come full circle.
The Cove's Official Web site
The Cove At The IMDB
Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project Web Site
The film is centered around Ric O'Barry, and his passionate mission to insure that dolphins are no longer subject to captivity, and hunting. At first I didn't quite understand why Mr. O'Barry was so passionate on this subject, but it became clear as I watched the film. In short, Mr. O'Barry is partly (if not largely) responsible for the world's fascination with these amazing creatures. After he left the Navy in the early 1960's, he was hired as a Dolphin trainer at the Miami Seaquarium. He was then hired to capture and train Dolphins to be used on the Flipper television show, which debuted on the NBC television network in 1964. If you are of my generation, you surely have seen and enjoyed the show.
At the time, he recognized the extraordinary intelligence that Dolphins possessed, but as he admits in the film, the lure of money and 'a new Porsche every year' was hard to deny for a young man. The event that turned him from Dolphin-trainer-for-hire, to Dolphin protector and activist, was when one of the Bottlenose Dolphins that portrayed Flipper, named Kathy, swam into his arms, and he believes, committed suicide. He supports this claim with the widely acknowledged fact that Dolphins (and indeed all Cetaceans) are voluntary air-breathers, and unlike humans, and many other land-dwelling mammals, have the ability to choose when they take a breath, or when they do not. According to O'Barry, after weeks of showing signs of depression, Kathy swam into his arms, opened her blowhole to take a breath, and then never took another. The very next day, activist O'Barry was arrested for freeing a dolphin from captivity near Bimini.
Much of the film takes place in a Japanese city called Taiji where there is a yearly hunt in which Dolphins are 'herded' into a cove whereupon some are sold to aquariums from around the world, and the rest are killed for their meat. The goal of the people in this film was to be able to get the slaughter on film, and in so doing, created a documentary that is unlike any documentary I have ever seen.
The cove where the slaughter takes place is actually part of a local park, that has been fenced off so that no one can see what takes place there. Anyone who is not a part of the Taiji fishing crew is not allowed in the cove. O'Barry and company had many problems to overcome to be able to secretly film in the cove, including camouflaging Hi-Def cameras to look like rocks, locating them in and around the cove without being caught, positioning underwater microphones, and building a radio-controlled helicopter to attempt to get aerial footage. Doing all of these things required recruiting people with talents as wildly varied as Hollywood special-effects artists, and world-class Freedivers. The scenes where the team sneaked into the cove under the cover of darkness were as tense as any drama I have seen.
The footage that they shot was as horrific and disturbing as I had imagined, and everyone should see it. Sadly, however, this was one of the more poorly attended films that I have seen in a while, and I suspect it's precisely because people did not want to see it. I can only hope that this film will change things.
As a vegetarian, I obviously oppose the killing of animals for food, but I would think that any reasonable person would oppose the captivity and slaughter of a life form that is likely sentient. In addition to that, Dolphin meat is among the most highly toxic meats on the planet due to very high Mercury levels, so it's simply not a good food source.
In the film, Mr. O'Barry spoke about why captivity is so stressful for Dolphins. I had never really thought that deeply about it before, but as an Audio Engineer, once he made his point, it was like being hit by a hammer. Dolphins are acoustic creatures that evolved in the oceans and use a highly-sensitive and sophisticated natural Sonar array to help them navigate. You know... the incredibly huge oceans that aren't bounded by concrete walls? Now imagine being a creature that uses Sonar, and being forced to live in what must seem like a minuscule concrete cage. When a dolphin uses its Sonar in such a confined space with such reflective surfaces, it must be awful. I can only imagine that due to that, confinement for Dolphins must be hellish. I can relate to this because even as a human without a Sonar array, doing audio work (recording, mixing, mastering) in small rooms with reflective parallel walls creates great difficulties.
In my first paragraph I alluded to a connection between this film and a previous post on this blog. If you're a regular reader you will no doubt remember my review of the Animal Planet television series called Whale Wars. Captain Paul Watson of the 'Steve Irwin' was quoted several times in this film, and they also used footage from 'Whale Wars' depicting Japanese whaling. It should come as no surprise to you that the governing body that oversees Japanese whaling, also oversees the capture and slaughter of Dolphins. It's amazing how things sometimes come full circle.
The Cove's Official Web site
The Cove At The IMDB
Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project Web Site
Set around the current day U.S. occupation of Iraq, we follow a group of men around as they disarm Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), better known as bombs. Because it was filmed mostly in Jordan, and in the documentary style, this film has a frightening amount of authenticity.
The most compelling character is Staff Sergeant William James, played by Jeremy Renner, and this guy is a stone cold adrenaline junkie who gets high from his job. He likes his job to the point of putting his fellow comrades in harm's way, if it will get him another rush. At one point in the film we learn that he has disarmed over eight hundred bombs.
As I watched this guy coldly go about his business as if he were immune to death, I wondered what it might be like to have to an addiction like his. If I remember my history correctly, the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang was originally formed by guys like this who liked the action in World War II, and found life boring when they returned home. Since they could no longer get their kicks on the battlefield, they started doing it by going fast on motorcycles.
Even as I sit here now, my mind is imagining nothing but torment for a man like that, if he is able to survive the war, and return home to the boring and mundane task of providing for his family in the states. What could possibly replace the thrill of being only inches, and moments away from death? He could start sky-diving or some other extreme sport, but I have to believe that disarming a bomb is several orders of magnitude more thrilling than jumping out of an airplane.
If you want to live on the edge of your seat for about two hours, do yourself a favor and see this film.
The Hurt Locker at the IMDB
The Hurt Locker's official website
The most compelling character is Staff Sergeant William James, played by Jeremy Renner, and this guy is a stone cold adrenaline junkie who gets high from his job. He likes his job to the point of putting his fellow comrades in harm's way, if it will get him another rush. At one point in the film we learn that he has disarmed over eight hundred bombs.
As I watched this guy coldly go about his business as if he were immune to death, I wondered what it might be like to have to an addiction like his. If I remember my history correctly, the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang was originally formed by guys like this who liked the action in World War II, and found life boring when they returned home. Since they could no longer get their kicks on the battlefield, they started doing it by going fast on motorcycles.
Even as I sit here now, my mind is imagining nothing but torment for a man like that, if he is able to survive the war, and return home to the boring and mundane task of providing for his family in the states. What could possibly replace the thrill of being only inches, and moments away from death? He could start sky-diving or some other extreme sport, but I have to believe that disarming a bomb is several orders of magnitude more thrilling than jumping out of an airplane.
If you want to live on the edge of your seat for about two hours, do yourself a favor and see this film.
The Hurt Locker at the IMDB
The Hurt Locker's official website
From where does our food come?
Most people I suspect, think it comes from farms in pastoral settings with men wearing overalls, smoking corn-cob pipes, while driving tractors. Sadly, the majority of the food that most people eat today, comes from huge factory farms, run by gigantic multi-national corporations, and like most corporate-run enterprises, production efficiency, unsafe working conditions, low wages, and little concern for the environment and the consumer, rule the day.
The story of this film is told by a few farmers, both mass-production, and low-production organic, as well as by Michael Pollan (Author: The Omnivore's Dilemma), Eric Schlosser (Author: Fast Food Nation), and the story they tell will shock you.
As a Vegetarian, I have always been a little confused by the people arguing that the meat industry doesn't treat its animals humanely. I am confused because if the animal is only going to be killed, what does it matter? For me there is no humanity in the process regardless of how they treat the animals, and in my mind, there certainly is no humane way to slaughter an animal. But in these inhumane conditions that the animals endure before slaughter, lie many unintended, potentially life-threatening consequences.
I'm sure that most people probably aren't aware that in these mass-production facilities, beef cattle wade through ponds of their own feces, and are often covered in it. Feeding the animals corn, while inexpensive, is not the food that cattle have evolved eating, so this affects their digestion, and allows for Ecoli buildup in the animal's gut. This is how the meat eventually gets tainted with Ecoli, and leads to those horrific stories we hear about where people get sick, and sometimes die, from tainted meat.
The horror story isn't limited only to meat production. Massive pesticide use, genetically modified crops, and manure runoff are some of the issues surrounding produce production as well.
I became a vegetarian for health reasons, and in time, and after reading books written by the above authors, came to know about these facts. This solidified my belief in eating whole, organic foods whenever possible, for the good of me, and the planet.
This film is a good starting place for those people who want to know more about what they are eating and I highly recommend it. The film also did something that I have never before seen done. Often when people have seen a documentary, they leave the theatre asking, "What can I do? How can I help?" Well this film solves that problem for you. Before the credits roll, the filmmakers make several great recommendations of things that you can do to effect change.
For those wanting to know more, please see this film. If you see the film and that isn't enough, I recommend reading the books mentioned above. It could save your life and will certainly benefit mankind and our planet.
The Official Food, Inc. Home Page
Food, Inc. at the Internet Movie Database
Most people I suspect, think it comes from farms in pastoral settings with men wearing overalls, smoking corn-cob pipes, while driving tractors. Sadly, the majority of the food that most people eat today, comes from huge factory farms, run by gigantic multi-national corporations, and like most corporate-run enterprises, production efficiency, unsafe working conditions, low wages, and little concern for the environment and the consumer, rule the day.
The story of this film is told by a few farmers, both mass-production, and low-production organic, as well as by Michael Pollan (Author: The Omnivore's Dilemma), Eric Schlosser (Author: Fast Food Nation), and the story they tell will shock you.
As a Vegetarian, I have always been a little confused by the people arguing that the meat industry doesn't treat its animals humanely. I am confused because if the animal is only going to be killed, what does it matter? For me there is no humanity in the process regardless of how they treat the animals, and in my mind, there certainly is no humane way to slaughter an animal. But in these inhumane conditions that the animals endure before slaughter, lie many unintended, potentially life-threatening consequences.
I'm sure that most people probably aren't aware that in these mass-production facilities, beef cattle wade through ponds of their own feces, and are often covered in it. Feeding the animals corn, while inexpensive, is not the food that cattle have evolved eating, so this affects their digestion, and allows for Ecoli buildup in the animal's gut. This is how the meat eventually gets tainted with Ecoli, and leads to those horrific stories we hear about where people get sick, and sometimes die, from tainted meat.
The horror story isn't limited only to meat production. Massive pesticide use, genetically modified crops, and manure runoff are some of the issues surrounding produce production as well.
I became a vegetarian for health reasons, and in time, and after reading books written by the above authors, came to know about these facts. This solidified my belief in eating whole, organic foods whenever possible, for the good of me, and the planet.
This film is a good starting place for those people who want to know more about what they are eating and I highly recommend it. The film also did something that I have never before seen done. Often when people have seen a documentary, they leave the theatre asking, "What can I do? How can I help?" Well this film solves that problem for you. Before the credits roll, the filmmakers make several great recommendations of things that you can do to effect change.
For those wanting to know more, please see this film. If you see the film and that isn't enough, I recommend reading the books mentioned above. It could save your life and will certainly benefit mankind and our planet.
The Official Food, Inc. Home Page
Food, Inc. at the Internet Movie Database
I finally rented Gran Torino and watched it last night. When I plan not to see a film in the theatre, and eventually watch it in my modest home theatre, I make a point to avoid learning anything about the film in question.
My first surprise about this film was that I had no idea that so much of the film would relate to the lead character's Asian neighbors, who belonged to a group of Asians called the Hmong. I had never heard of the Hmong and it was fascinating to learn about their culture, their history, and their plight.
The main character in this film is a guy named Walt Kowalski, who is a retired auto-worker, recently a widower. He is estranged from his children, and is basically a curmudgeon who wants to be left alone. He very much reminded me of a combination of Archie Bunker, Hank Hill, Andy Sipowicz, and Paul Kersey. Like all of these characters, we like them despite their many faults, and in time, we learn that they are sophisticated people with many layers. Walt is no exception.
For many people in the world today, things are changing faster than they can keep up with, and they are incapable, or unwilling to change with them. I saw something like this in the very neighborhood in which I grew up. When I was young it was entirely made up of Polish people, most of whom were retired, and took little interest in their neighbors. In time, as people moved away, or passed away, the neighborhood became more multi-cultural and economically depressed, not unlike Walt's neighborhood.
Much like the aloof neighboars that I had as a child, Walt is similar, but having said that, we get the feeling that Walt Kowalski cares about his neighborhood deeply, and despite the changes going on around him, wants it to be a safe place where a family can raise their children with no worries. The difference between Walt and most people, however, is that Walt is a man of action, and is willing to put himself out there when he sees an injustice.
Walt eventually befriends his Hmong neighbors, and despite all their differences, they learn to tolerate each other's differences, and in time, enjoy their differences.
Walt becomes good friends with his two adolescent neighbors, Thao, and Sue, and they develop a close relationship. Our first impressions of Walt tell us this would be impossible, but it happens. Walt ends up caring so deeply for these young adults, that he is willing to put it all on the line for them.
As in my film reviews on the BV Podcast, I didn't usually give away any spoilers, and I am not going to do it here. But what I am going to tell you is that I found this film to be powerful and moving. Powerful and moving because we ALL know or knew a guy like Walt Kowalski at one time in our lives, and indeed, are probably related to someone like that. While I am not of Walt's generation, I found myself relating to him in many ways, and what more could we ask of a film, a story, and a character, than that.
Was Gran Torino a perfect film? No. It had its faults, but they are far outweighed by the pluses.
Check it out.
My first surprise about this film was that I had no idea that so much of the film would relate to the lead character's Asian neighbors, who belonged to a group of Asians called the Hmong. I had never heard of the Hmong and it was fascinating to learn about their culture, their history, and their plight.
The main character in this film is a guy named Walt Kowalski, who is a retired auto-worker, recently a widower. He is estranged from his children, and is basically a curmudgeon who wants to be left alone. He very much reminded me of a combination of Archie Bunker, Hank Hill, Andy Sipowicz, and Paul Kersey. Like all of these characters, we like them despite their many faults, and in time, we learn that they are sophisticated people with many layers. Walt is no exception.
For many people in the world today, things are changing faster than they can keep up with, and they are incapable, or unwilling to change with them. I saw something like this in the very neighborhood in which I grew up. When I was young it was entirely made up of Polish people, most of whom were retired, and took little interest in their neighbors. In time, as people moved away, or passed away, the neighborhood became more multi-cultural and economically depressed, not unlike Walt's neighborhood.
Much like the aloof neighboars that I had as a child, Walt is similar, but having said that, we get the feeling that Walt Kowalski cares about his neighborhood deeply, and despite the changes going on around him, wants it to be a safe place where a family can raise their children with no worries. The difference between Walt and most people, however, is that Walt is a man of action, and is willing to put himself out there when he sees an injustice.
Walt eventually befriends his Hmong neighbors, and despite all their differences, they learn to tolerate each other's differences, and in time, enjoy their differences.
Walt becomes good friends with his two adolescent neighbors, Thao, and Sue, and they develop a close relationship. Our first impressions of Walt tell us this would be impossible, but it happens. Walt ends up caring so deeply for these young adults, that he is willing to put it all on the line for them.
As in my film reviews on the BV Podcast, I didn't usually give away any spoilers, and I am not going to do it here. But what I am going to tell you is that I found this film to be powerful and moving. Powerful and moving because we ALL know or knew a guy like Walt Kowalski at one time in our lives, and indeed, are probably related to someone like that. While I am not of Walt's generation, I found myself relating to him in many ways, and what more could we ask of a film, a story, and a character, than that.
Was Gran Torino a perfect film? No. It had its faults, but they are far outweighed by the pluses.
Check it out.
