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How does Walt Kowalski change in Gran Torino?
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Clint Eastwood
American actor and director Clint Eastwood, 2008.
In the 2008 film Gran Torino, Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood, undergoes a significant personal transformation. Initially, Kowalski is depicted as an irascible, retired autoworker living in a blue-collar Detroit suburb who harbors a lifetime of suspicion toward minorities.1
Throughout the course of the film, he is forced to move past these deep-seated prejudices to take on the role of a protector for a family of Hmong immigrants living next door. This shift from isolation and hostility to guardianship marks the core of his character's evolution.1