War Changes Men in Film, Gran Torino: Surviving War

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Recommended: Mental and physical effects of war

War changes men. When it comes to sacrificing for a country, it is presumed that surviving combat could make a man appreciate life, aspire to important things, and value effort and determination. In short, it could make a man take advantage of the great second chance he had been given and work to find both large and small ways to contribute to the public good. Yet despite this assumption, the horror of death had scarred the lives of many war veterans, obviating them from the joy of living. Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino (2008) explores this idea of returned war vets and presents it through the persona of Walt Kowalski, a racist retired autoworker, Korean war veteran, and the film’s eventual hero of his multiracial Detroit neighbourhood.

Riding on the same wave of patriotism, it is unquestionable that men in combat strive for the love of their country. War veterans, in particular, tend to hold close to their patriotic values even after the end of their battle. As a returned war vet, Walt Kowalski is constructed to be patriotic and have a strong love for America throughout the film. This is established through the film’s incorporation of the American flag in its setting of Walt’s house. Hanging solidly over his square patch of lawn, the flag symbolises Walt’s display of patriotism and his loyalty to his country as well as his imperishable traditional American beliefs. Viewers are constantly reminded of his patriotic sentiment through the consistent use of long panning shots of the American flag outside his house. This reinforces the idea that war veterans still have a compelling faithfulness for their country by expressing it through a simple display of their national flag. However, as much as strong patriotic views are worthy, war ...

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...ao, the film suggests in it inclusion, reveals that he regrets his actions and was unable to redeem himself from his past. Therefore, through the interactions with the Hmong’s shaman and the symbolic lighter, the film encourages the response that war veterans are still clinging to the memory of war.

Gran Torino, directed by, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood, has present ideas about the life of war veterans that had been scarred by the horrors of death. Through the exceptional performance by Clint Eastwood, representing Walt Kowalski as a war veteran, returned war vets are constructed to be patriotic, racist and haunted by their violent past. They are faced with the difficulty of balancing between the remnant memories of past wars and the ever-changing modern society. Therefore, surviving war simply underscored the cruelty and randomness of life and death.

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