Gran Torino

We’ve seen a movie called Gran Torino at school and here are some questions that our teacher gave us : 

How would you describe Walt’s relationship with his family? Do you know of anyone that has a similar family relationship?

 In the end of the movie Walt went to the confession where he shared all of his sins, he also told the priest the worst sin he has struggled with was his relationship with his sons or ``lack`` of it. He never really knew how to communicate with them. I guess it may be one of the worst things when you're a parent ,but of course sometimes it's not easy at all, especially when they didn't really put a lot of effort in having a good relationship with him either.  

 Towards the end of the movie, the gang shoots up the Lor’s home and attacks Sue. Thao wants immediate revenge but Walsays they must wait. How would you react if something like this happened to your family? Have you ever wanted revenge? How did you deal with the feelings?

From my own experience I think Walt was right. It is not always easy to stay calm and wait till the stress goes away, but that is the best way. I'm sure that many of us made many mistakes while they were taking revenge while they were still influenced by the emotions.  Although I can't even imagine what Tao were going through when he saw his older sister when he came back. For him, Walt was some kind of role model and I guess he would expect that Walt would react immediately.  It is really hard to deal with these feeling, I think that everybody would react exactly like Tao did. 

At the start of the movie, Walt is seen at his wife’s funeral. What impression does he have of his son’s family from these scenes?

Well, in the beginning of the movie I thought  he was going through really though time ,and that was the reason he was so angry at his family ( since none of them showed any kind of respect, they were laughing at the funeral etc.) But I think that we also have to think about how he treated them the whole time. I not really sure how I would react at somebody's funeral if I didn't have no bond with that person (except the ``family bond``)

What does respect mean to Walt? What does respect mean to you?

I guess that it really meant a lot to him. He has been through a lot, and I'm not really sure if I\we are able to judge his behavior (He’s been through a war, and now he was left alone) We've also seen the scene where Walt sat outdoor and saw when a lady lost her packages and there were some teenagers that just walked by and didn't stop to help her. There are many ways of showing respect to other people. It doesn't have to be a big thing, just small one, to show that you care about other human beings.

 Can you think of real life examples of people who have sacrificed themselves for others? What drives these people to make this sort of sacrifice?

There are so many examples that I know about. Well, I guess I can take one of them. It might not be a similar example but still it is some kind of sacrifice. Many of us have ``participated`` or seen an accident. I guess that it would be natural to help other people right away for everybody. I have also seen an accident; actually I was a part of it. My friend planned to come over for the holidays and the day before, when she was about to go back to Poland, we went to the beach and were jumping from high-dive platform into the water. Well, she got hurt and I’m not sure if any random person would help her, or even call for an ambulance…while I jumped into the water and helped her. When it comes to friendship and family I guess that everybody would do everything to save your beloved.  I'm not sure I would react the same way if I didn't know the person, but still we have to remember that Walt and Tao’s family had a big bond between each other. I think that he became a part of this family afterwards. 

 

Do you agree?

-Ewa