At the Movies

'Gran Torino,' 'The Visitor' share themes of male loneliness, redemption

Two Walts comes to grips with their lives by Anne M. Kirby

Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood, becomes a reluctant protector of Hmong immigrants in "Gran Torino."

Eastwood, Jenkins shine in their roles

By Anne Kirby

I remember my amazement when I discovered that the Incan and Egyptian pyramids were simultaneously constructed within one century.  Without cross-cultural communication, without blueprints and, without knowing whether or not other cultures even existed, these architectural wonders owe their existence to a common knowlededge -- a mathematical genius -- that enables them to flourish as strong edifices thousands of years later.

Released within six short months of each other, both films mirror each other through a common theme of male loneliness, helplessness and the ensuing isolation that results when both films' male leads become widowed.

Arising out of a collective conscience that   spreads information, perhaps telepathically like wind,  the seeds of its fruit carry the genius of  knowledge -- which  graces humanity with an unconscious and intuitive, collective awareness  --  enabling cultural evolution through discoveries and events that protect and guide mankind when we need it the most.

Such is the case with the two look-alike films, "Gran Torino," directed by Clint Eastwood and "The Visitor" directed by Thomas McCarthy.

Released within six short months of each other, both films mirror each other through a common theme of male loneliness, helplessness and the ensuing isolation that results when each of  the male leads becomes widowed.

Is the universe trying to tell us something through this coincidence?  I think perhaps yes - especially after  discovering an even odder commonality which is that each of the two lead roles share the same, first name -- Walt.  Coincidental collective conscience?  Let's see.

In "Gran Torino," Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) plays a cranky old, retired Detroit auto worker and Korean War veteran who spends his days sitting on his front porch, like an on-duty security guard, aggressively protecting his property from his unwelcome Third World neighbors.

Walt believes they are the reason why his good old middle-class neighborhood is becoming more like the hoods in Los Angeles, replete with gangs of immigrants who prowl covertly around in small vehicles with large boom boxes blasting.

Guzzling beers, rifle at the ready

Guzzling beers, with his yellow Labrador retriever by his side and a rifle just inside his front door, Walt communicates with his neighbors through sneering looks and hissing racial epithets that he mutters underneath his breath. The neighbors he offends the most are Laotian refuges - members of the Hmong tribe - who ironically served as American allies in the Vietnam War.

Between visits to his one friend, a local barber, with whom Walt comically spars in a game of verbal jousting that reinforces their macho egos, Walt polishes his perfect, hand-assembled Ford Gran Torino that sits in his garage like a prized museum piece.

Filled with overcrowding war memories, Walt Kowalski has no need for his two sons and a selfish granddaughter, all of whom he views as self-centered. Basically, Walt is happier being alone with his tough-guy, ex-soldier façade that canonizes his loneliness, yet keeps him ticking.

For Walt, the car symbolizes better times and his gratifying, post-Korean War life that was marked by a happy marriage to a woman whom Walt describes as the "best woman that ever lived."

Filled with overcrowding war memories, Walt finds no need for his two sons and a selfish granddaughter, whom he views as self-centered, wastes of time.  Basically, Walt is happier alone with his tough-guy, ex-soldier façade that canonizes his loneliness, yet keeps him unabashedly ticking.

A few hundred miles to the east in Connecticut, we meet Detroit Walt's  emotional counterpart.  Sharing the same first name, he plays the lead role in the "The Visitor" as a professor named Walt Vale (Richard Jenkins.) Widowed, miserable and stalled at the same emotional crossroad as Detroit Walt, Professor Vale is introverted, cerebral, gentlemanly and quietly passive-aggressive - the complete opposite of the crankier "Gran Torino" Walt.

A professor going through the motions

Professor Vale is in his early 60's. Bored by the routine of teaching in a local college, he goes through the daily motions of teaching and writing a make-believe book that he uses as the excuse to escape his classroom duties. When confronted by a student seeking reprieve for a late term paper, on the grounds of "personal problems," Walt mechanically denies the student's request without explanation.

At home, Professor Walt lives a reclusive life. With the exception of his son, who lives in London, he has no close relationships.

Behind closed doors, we see Professor Walt attempting to jumpstart his life through piano lessons using his deceased concert pianist wife's piano, which symbolizes their happier times together.

Both Walts have no idea of the effect their loneliness has on them and others who get in the way. More significantly, they have no close friends with whom they can confide intimate and emotional thoughts.

The lessons do little more than exacerbate his pain and frustrate his musically inclined goal of revival. When he finally realizes he has no talent, he unleashes his smoldering aggression upon his innocent piano teacher, with pertly drawn, sealed lips that dismissively reject and devastate her with the force of a grenade.

Both Walts have no idea of the effect their loneliness has on them and others who get in the way. More significantly, they have no close friends with whom they can confide intimate and emotional thoughts.

Given their despair and embittered loneliness, one questions whether or not they have any emotional development or the strategic knowledge of how to overcome what they endure.

And this is the point of the films' theme - just how does one transcend feelings without the knowledge and wisdom of helping friends? It is safe to say that both of their emotional lives died with their wives.

Encounters with immigrants change their lives

Fire fights fire. What transpires for the Walts in "Gran Torino" and "The Visitor" is a bit of luck and a dash of divine justice that positions the two men in close proximity with immigrant families facing their own kind of emotional problems of deportation, physical harassment and a displacement in a foreign culture that makes their very survival a life-threatening process.

For Detroit Walt, this occurs when he comes to the rescue of his Hmong neighbors who need his protection when they are victimized by a menacing gang of indolent, tough guys who carry guns.

As for Professor Walt, his immigrant relationship begins when he returns, after many years, to his New York City apartment, where he discovers a young immigrant couple living there after having been exploited by a greedy and scamming landlord who takes advantage of the empty apartment.

In both cases, the two Walts eventually develop close relationships that develop out of their respect and empathy for the innocent and victimized immigrants who openly share musical talents, food, and their time with them.

In both cases, the two Walts eventually develop close relationships that develop out of their respect and empathy for the innocent and victimized immigrants who openly share musical talents, food, and their time with them. In return, each Walt becomes, once again, energized and alive while providing the foreigners with protection and the help they need to navigate through American life, its legal rights, socioeconomic mores and institutions.

The immigrants provide both Walts with the insight they themselves are unable attain to move their lives beyond the negative emotions their wives' deaths have caused.   Similarly displaced,  the immigrants -- through their shared humanity -- provide the misguided Walts with a powerful message that defines their new roles in life as people embracing their common humanity.

Although there are no fairy tale endings to these two, sobering films, each of the men becomes unshackled from the emotional bondage that prevented them from claiming the destinies that lie ahead of them.

And as for the mental telepathy and collective conscience phenomena, I believe each of the films reinforces a timely message that signifies a more humanistic era about to form before our very eyes --  if we choose to see it. 

Walt Vale, left, played by Richard Jenkins, gets an impromptu drum lesson from his immigrant friend Tarek, played by Haaz Sleiman, in "The Visitor."