Gran Torino
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Gran Torino |
| Original title | Gran Torino |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English , Hmong |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 116 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 12 JMK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Clint Eastwood |
| script |
Nick Schenk (screenplay), Dave Johannson (story) |
| production | Clint Eastwood, Bill Gerber , Robert Lorenz |
| music |
Kyle Eastwood , Michael Stevens , Jamie Cullum |
| camera | Tom Stern |
| cut |
Joel Cox , Gary D. Roach |
| occupation | |
| |
Gran Torino is an American feature film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood from the year 2008 .
action
The Polish-born Korean war veteran and former Ford employee Walt Kowalski, whose worldview is shaped by racist prejudice, lives in a Detroit suburb where the decline of the auto industry has left its mark. The film begins with the funeral of his previously deceased wife. Unlike her, he is not a believer. Father Janovich, who had promised Walt's dying wife to get him to confess, feels this unmistakably. Many neighbors have moved to better residential areas. You no longer drive US cars, but foreign vehicles, just like his own son who drives a Toyota. This annoys Walt, because he sees “American ideals” increasingly endangered. His son, Mitch, is a high-income salesman at a Japanese dealership, which Walt disapproves of. Also because the members of the family speculate quite openly on Walt's inheritance, Walt's relationship with his two sons and their families is miserable.
Many Hmong people who have immigrated in recent years now live in the neighborhood , which the racist Kowalski, who constantly calls them "slit eyes", displeases them. The neighbor boy Thao tries to steal the gang of his older cousin Walt's 1972 Ford Gran Torino Sport as part of an initiation rite. Walt prevents the theft and later, with the rifle at the ready, another attack by the gang on Thao and thus unintentionally becomes the hero of the district. Neighbors bring food and flowers to Walt's front porch. However, Walt initially fights against these expressions of thanks by throwing the presents in the trash.
When Walt happens to witness how the neighbor's daughter Sue and her boyfriend are molested by several members of a black gang, he intervenes. After he has put his hand shaped like a pistol on the gang members, he draws a real pistol with which he keeps the gang members in check and commands Sue into his truck. As a thank you, Sue invites Walt to a family celebration on his birthday. Since the widower has not eaten anything in a long time and his beer has also run out, he agrees and goes to the party.
Since Walt is coughing up blood, his doctor tells him that he is seriously ill. However, he cannot even confide in his son. After a while, a friendly relationship develops between Kowalski and Thao's family. When his mother learns that Thao wanted to steal the Gran Torino, she forces Thao to work off his debt to Walt in order to restore the family's honor. Walt has Thao repair the damage to the houses in the neighborhood, as he doesn't know what else to do with the boy. The two soon get closer, and Walt, who is increasingly becoming a role model for the boy, encourages Thao to take on a regular job. He puts him in touch with a construction manager friend . Since Thao has no tools, Walt gives him some. When Thao is on his way back from work, he is ambushed by his cousin's gang. In the end, a gang member puts a lit cigarette on his cheek. Walt then tries to keep the gang away from Thao and tries to intimidate them by beating one of the members and threatening them with his gun.
The situation escalates. The gang shoots Walt's neighbors' house with submachine guns from a moving car. Sue is beaten up and raped by the gang. However, nobody dares to testify to the police. Walt realizes that Sue and Thao have no chance as long as the gang has free play. He makes personal preparations: makes his confession with Father Janovich, buys a tailor-made suit, gives the vengeance Thao his Silver Star medal and locks the young man in his cellar to protect him from a thoughtless act and the matter to finish alone.
After he has given his dog to Sue's grandmother and informed Sue about Thao's whereabouts, he stands in front of the gang's house and provokes her. When his request for a fire for his cigarette remains unanswered, he demonstratively reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket. Since the gang members fear that he will also draw a gun, they put him under fire. But he only pulls out his Zippo lighter from the 1st US Cavalry Division . Walt dies unarmed in the hail of bullets on the spot, Sue and Thao arrive too late and can only watch as Walt's corpse is removed and the gang members are arrested by the police. A police officer explains to Thao that the gang members will now be jailed for many years because there were many witnesses to the murder.
To his family's surprise, Walt bequeaths his house to the Catholic Church on the grounds that his wife would have wanted it to. Thao receives his Gran Torino. However, some conditions are mentioned in the will, for example, the car must not be spoiled by conversion work, such as a spoiler. Walt's family gets nothing.
production
Gran Torino was filmed in Detroit and other locations in Michigan . Production began on July 14, 2008. There were 35 days of shooting, of which only 33 were required. Production costs are estimated at around 33 million US dollars estimated. The film celebrated its world premiere on December 9, 2008 in Burbank . From December 12, 2008, he was seen in US cinemas. Screenings at various film festivals followed. In Switzerland it was shown in cinemas from February 25, 2009. The film opened on March 5, 2009 in Germany and one day later in Austria. In the USA, almost $ 272,000 was brought in on the opening weekend, the income totaled over $ 148 million by June 2009. With revenues of approximately $ 269 million worldwide, Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood's biggest commercial success to date. Over 680,000 visitors were counted at the German box office.
The choice for the movie car fell on a Ford Torino because screenwriter Nick Schenk lived near a Ford factory. Clint Eastwood's son Scott Eastwood stars in the role of Sue's terrified date Trey, but is credited under his maiden name, Scott Reeves. Another son, Kyle Eastwood , wrote the score.
reception
“Clint Eastwood doesn’t let the bitter story sink into a portrait of a bitter, self-purifying man or an emotional story of revenge. Rather, he finds numerous nuances up to self-parody, which make both the main character and the social environment believable to touch. "
“Clint Eastwood, one of the last great Hollywood legends, is still very active as a director, but makes himself rare in front of the camera. He made his last appearance five years ago in Million Dollar Baby . Judging by this four-time Oscar-winning masterpiece, Gran Torino is unfortunately a disappointment. In terms of craftsmanship, the film cannot be blamed: the music, the images, the actors - everything is of the finest quality. What bothers us is the banality of the conflict that leads to catastrophe: 60 years after the end of the war, the veteran Kowalski washes himself of his guilt by protecting the ex-enemy from a new enemy - this is an artificial excitement that leaves no one sympathetic. It's a shame, Eastwood can do better. "
“ Gran Torino is a quiet, wistful, but also complex ballad that director Clint Eastwood ennobles with his archetypal figure by referring to his merciless Dirty Harry films in an almost casually melancholy manner. It is about racism and the devastating effects of blind violence, the seeds of which are already growing in the front yard. Once again, the great wise man shows that he is ready to learn with every film. A wonderfully personal work of the highest urgency. "
“Indeed, it is as if the 78-year-old was drawing the sum of all his films, as if he wanted to say that the violence must end one day. Of course, that's a game too, of course Eastwood writes the moral biography of his characters on with calculation, of course it's an American ending with pathos. But it is fascinating how this artist assembles his characters, the actor and the director with minimal resources into a wonderful trinity. Yes, that's a master. "
“It's great to see Clint Eastwood all over again in his prime role of a taciturn loner. The parable about racism and tolerance is a gripping, sincere and sensitive old work. "
“› Gran Torino ‹is convincing above all as a personal work of its star and director. [...] Eastwood cares little about political correctness, his main character is as problematic as it is colorful. The boundary between reflection on racism and the simple expression of xenophobia and intolerance cannot always be clearly defined. But even if there is occasionally a lack of sensitivity, ›Gran Torino‹ is an absolute must for Eastwood fans and as a genre film it offers excellent entertainment. "
“In any case, the finale, which Walt even puts on a halo, is completely irony-free and extremely pathetic. And the longer you think about all of the strange implications of the story, the further the pleasure the film initially gives. "
Awards
Gran Torino was named one of the 10 Best Films of 2008 by the American Film Institute . Clint Eastwood's performance was also recognized. He won the National Board of Review's best male actor award in 2008 .
In 2009 the film received an award from the Federal Association of Communal Film Work for outstanding film dubbing and subtitling. In the same year, the film won the Silver Ribbon of the Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani for best non-European film. The Uruguayan Film Critics Association honored Gran Torino with the UFCA Award for Best Film in 2009 . With the David di Donatello for the best foreign film, Gran Torino was also awarded the most important Italian film prize in 2009.
The French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma awarded Eastwood's directorial work in 2010 with the César for the best foreign film. Also in 2010, the film won the Award of the Japanese Academy for Best Foreign Film and won the Blue Ribbon Award , the CEC Award , the Fotogramas de Plata , the Hochi Film Award and the Mainichi Film Concours in the same category. Also in 2010, Clint Eastwood received the Kinema Junpo Award for best foreign director and the Readers' Choice Award for Gran Torino for best film.
The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable .
Furthermore, the film as well as its actors and the film crew received various nominations at other film awards.
Gran Torino also achieved good ratings on online film portals . At film releases , the film was voted 13th in the top 250 best films of all time by around 30,000 users based on customer ratings. In the Internet Movie Database , it was among the 250 best films with a rating of 8.2.
Aftermath
Since 2019, Gran Torino has been part of the Baden-Württemberg Abitur in English as part of the focus topic "The Ambiguity of Belonging" .
Web links
- Gran Torino in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Gran Torino at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Gran Torino at Metacritic (English)
- Gran Torino in the online film database
- Gran Torino in the German dubbing index
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of release for Gran Torino . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2009 (PDF; test number: 117 040 K).
- ↑ Age rating for Gran Torino . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ Internet Movie Database : Filming Locations
- ↑ a b c d Internet Movie Database : Budget and Box Office Results
- ↑ a b c Internet Movie Database : Background information
- ↑ a b c d e Internet Movie Database : Start Dates
- ↑ boxofficemojo.com
- ↑ detroit.about.com , "Information About Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and Hmong in Detroit," Laura Sternberg, February 11, 2009.
- ↑ Gran Torino. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Cinema : Gran Torino. In: Cinema long review. Milky Way Publishing Group, accessed March 7, 2009 .
- ↑ Christina Krisch: Gran Torino. In: Kronen Zeitung . Mediaprint , March 6, 2009, accessed December 14, 2014 .
- ^ Henryk Goldberg : The confession. Clint Eastwood draws the sum of all of his films in "Gran Torino". Getidan, April 28, 2009, accessed November 18, 2017 .
- ^ Olaf Schneekloth: Gran Torino. CountryMusicNews.de, accessed on March 12, 2009 .
- ^ Andreas Staben: Gran Torino. Film releases , accessed November 10, 2014 .
- ↑ Patrick Seyboth: Critique of Gran Torino. epd Film, March 1, 2009, accessed March 4, 2015 .
- ^ AFI Awards 2008. In: afi.com. American Film Institute , accessed February 19, 2012 .
- ^ Awards for 2008. In: nbrmp.org. National Board of Review , archived from the original on March 9, 2009 ; Retrieved March 1, 2009 .
- ↑ Liliput Prize for “Welcome to the Sch'tis” and “Gran Torino”. In: nh24.de. October 16, 2009, archived from the original on December 11, 2013 ; Retrieved December 29, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Internet Movie Database : Nominations and Awards
- ↑ Gran Torino. German Film and Media Rating FBW, accessed on February 7, 2018 .
- ↑ Gran Torino. In: film starts . Retrieved October 15, 2011 .
- ↑ Internet Movie Database : Top 250 , accessed December 29, 2012.
- ↑ The Ambiguity of Belonging. In: State Education Server Baden-Württemberg. Accessed February 16, 2020 .