Gran Torino

Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.

A Clint Eastwood film, Gran Torino, is on it’s way and I couldn’t be any more put off than I already am. I don’t know what’s up with these whitey-gon-save-people-of-color movies. Hollywood can keep putting them out and I will never, ever buy that bullshit. Especially this one.

There’s nothing special about this film and it should not be glorified for putting Hmongs on the big screen. Because I can almost guarantee that the portrayal of Hmongs will be plain out silly and demeaning. It’s just one of the many films of it’s kind; Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, High School High, Knights of the South Bronx, and much, much more that escapes me right now. It’s not that I can’t appreciate a good story of an underpriveleged youth of color with little to no resources making good of him/herself, it’s two things about these movies that piss me off.

• It’s always a seamless, determined white person with a heart of gold that so desperately wants to help. (Manifest destiny, anyone?)
• The portrayal of aforementioned youth of color is pathetic. They’re usually shown as these helpless, remedial dummies that have no direction or desire for themselves.

I’ll just reiterate how badly I hate films like this. If anyone wants to waste their money to go see this shit, let me know how it goes. (If I haven’t already told you how it will be.)

“Honestly, who throws a shoe?”

Okay, we all know that an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoe at Bush. But besides just poking fun at the issue, we should recognize this act as something more than just another Bush-hater. Professor Jose Maria Sison, chairman of the International Coordinating Committee, International League of Peoples’ Struggle released this press statement about what had happened:

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle joins the Iraqi and Arab peoples and the peoples of the entire world in hailing the journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi of Cairo-based Al-Bahgdadia as a hero for hurling his shoes at the US imperialist chieftain and No. 1war criminal and terrorist George W. Bush.

When he hurled his shoes at Bush, Al-Zeidi clearly expressed the pain and suffering as well as the resistance of the Iraqi people when he shouted at Bush, “This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, orphans and those you have killed in Iraq.

Hurling the shoes at Bush expresses the contempt and condemnation of the people for the horrendous crimes of aggression and occupation committed by Bush against Iraq and the Iraqi people. It is a meaningful and courageous act, a powerful symbolic act of protest witnessed by the people of the world through television and other mass media.

The crimes of Bush include the killing and wounding of millions of Iraqi people, the destruction of the social and economic infrastructure of Iraq, US seizure and control of Iraqi oil and other resources and the perpetuation of US military bases and forces through the US security pact with the Iraqi puppet regime.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle condemns the physical and psychological torture that the hero of the Arab people, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, is being subjected to and demands his immediate release from the clutches of his US and Iraqi puppet interrogators and torturers.

We should always look at everything in the news critically, with this as a prime example. And once we have done that, then we can poke fun at it again. And again.