Porco Rosso

Dir: Hayao Miyazaki

1992

*****

Porco Rosso is one of those wonderfully bizarre mix of genres that only Hayao Miyazaki could come up with. The question of which is one's favourite Studio Ghibli film comes up a lot and it is almost impossible to answer. I would say My Neighbour Totoro is certainly a contender, Grave of the Fireflies is definitely their most striking film and I would find it hard to choose between Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Whisper of theHeart but generally, if I want to sit down to enjoy a good Ghibli film at the end of a hard day at work, I'm more than likely to reach for Porco Rosso first. It is the story of an ex-World War I fighter pilot who now works as a bounty hunter, policing the Adriatic Sea, looking for sky pirates. The film is narrated by the pilot (and our protagonist) very much in the same style as the 1940's film-noirs, particularly as is seen in Howard Hawk's The Big Sleep. It is essentially a Japanese film, set in Italy, with a Philip Marlowe type character, who flies a plane and is a pig. Like I said, only from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki. Porco Rosso (or Red Pig/Crimson Pig) started life as a Manga written by Miyazaki and the film almost seems like an extended continuation of the story, although it was intended originally to be a short cartoon to be used for advertising purposes on Japanese Airlines. It really does feel like an old aviation film, mixed with film noir and a bit of swashbuckling adventure thrown in. The only real mythical element is the fact that Porco Rosso, who was a human called Marco Pagot, is turned into a pig due to a curse. Porco Rosso is the first Ghibli film that really let Miyazaki explore his two great passions; Aviation and politics. Miyazaki would go on to make his big Aviation masterpiece in 2013's The Wind Rises, inspired by his father who worked in Airplane manufacturing during World War II and although it angered the far right in Japan, Porco Rosso was a little less subtle. When the sky pirates are hired by the newly formed government, Rosso quips "I'd rather be a pig than a fascist" and goes on to shoot them all out of the sky. I love the characters, the format, the action and the humour, it is Hayao Miyazaki at his most light-hearted and at his most serious in many respect. The underlying message of redemption is pretty subtle but it's very effective. He has been critical of it himself in the past but of all of Ghibli's films, this is the only one he has considered making a follow up film to. Even though I thought the ending was perfect, I would love that to happen.