Like many great Hollywood magicians Clint Eastwood does it again with his directorial and acting efforts. It is not often you watch a carefully crafted film with many different elements within the story that often reflect issues of modern day society. In this, we see a representation of that and much more. The masterful eye of Eastwood captures the story of Walt Kowalski played by Clint Eastwood as an angry Polish man who fought in the Korean War; he befriends a young boy Thao Vang Lor played by Bee Vang who he mentors in the ways of life helping him see things differently and making an impression upon him. The screenplay was written by Nick Schenk, and the story was written by Dave Johannson and Nick Schenk.
Thao’s sister Sue Lor played by Ahney Her also steps into Walt’s life, she impacts him in a positive way and changes his outlooks on things as well. Christopher Carley plays the character Father Janovich who tries to figure Walt out and his intentions as he meets with him. Walt also has a family and two sons; he has been in mourning since the passing of his late wife. He has become bitter about the world and the environment he lives in as things have changed before his very own eyes.
More of the cast includes: Brian Haley playing Mitch Kowalski, Geraldine Hughes as Karen Kowalski, Dreama Walker as Ashley Kowalski, Brian Howe as Steve Kowalski, John Carroll Lynch as Barber Martin, William Hill as Tim Kennedy, Chee Thao as Grandma, Brooke Chia Thao as Vu, Choua Kue as Youa, Scott Eastwood (Son of Clint Eastwood and Jacelyn Reeves) as Trey, and Xia Soua Chang as Kor Khue.
This film will grab a hold of you and won’t let you go until the end, the characters were quite realistic and seem to be a slice from life captured and represented. I think the film also deals with many issues including race, violence, relationships, territory and dominance. It makes you think what is wrong with society and how people are different from one another. If only we all could see eye to eye on things, if people would spend time getting to know one another better there would be less misunderstandings. Perhaps this film is trying to teach this lesson to us in its own way.
The film was very polished how it was put together the scenes played out nicely. I highly recommend watching this one. It was a fantastic film, one of the better films I’ve seen in the last few years. You will have to watch to find out why the name of the film was used.
