That grand ole Gran Torino

In theaters Friday: Crossing Over, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

New on DVD and Blu-ray: The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Sex Drive, What Just Happened

Watching the Oscars Sunday night, I was not only thrilled to see my favorite film of the year, Slumdog Millionaire, win eight awards including Best Director for Danny Boyle and Best Picture, but I was also more and more disappointed in what looks like the snubbing of another of this year’s great movies: Gran Torino. I finally got around to seeing Clint Eastwood’s meditative and emotional drama about racism, aging and justice last week, and I was blown away.

In what he claims to be his final acting performance (though he will direct the Nelson Mandela story The Human Factor this year starring Morgan Freeman), Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a tough-as-nails Army vet, retired auto plant worker and recent widow who finds himself with lots of spare time in a neighborhood that has grown increasingly multiracial. Problem is, Kowalski is about as prejudiced as white Midwesterners come, reducing different ethnicities to unrealistic caricatures and an unending litany of slur names. When the kindhearted Asian boy next door is forced into a gang initiation and ordered to steal Kowalski’s prized Gran Torino, Eastwood’s film kicks into gear and never lets up.

As Kowalski spews derogatory slang for Asians, Latinos and blacks, it may unnerve some — the amount certainly borders parody — and many in my theater laughed nervously time and again at Kowalski’s blatant ignorance, but as the film moves on, more of Eastwood’s redeeming qualities emerge as he builds a strong bond with the Asian family next door. And by the end of the film, Kowalski’s behavior, his humor and his steadfast sacrifices make the character almost unrecognizable from Act One. That Eastwood was not nominated as Best Actor for Gran Torino will go down as one of the great oversights in Oscar history.

As well-regarded and admired as Eastwood is, Gran Torino proves that we as a movie-going public still underestimate his ridiculous talents. Eastwood directed and starred in this film. He composed and even sang the theme song. What more can you ask of a 78-year-old? In the newly minted Obama era, Gran Torino reminds us that large, concentrated pockets of racial prejudice are still scattered throughout America in places where ignorance could be replaced with openness and hatred overcome with love and forgiveness. Thank you, Clint, for a powerful film that explores these real-life themes with a big, big heart.