Hayao Miyazaki is hailed for his many popular animated films such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, but the filmmaker has many other works that have sadly gone under the radar. Porco Rosso is Miyazaki’s romance story about an Italian World War 1 pilot who so strongly considered himself a pig, that he actually became one. The film, while animated and staring an animal, is remarkably human. It’s a tale of a pig who now flies for himself and not his country, as post WW1 Italy had become fascist. This is a love story however, so naturally our hero, Porco Rosso (lit. ‘Red Pig’ in Italian), must not only do battle in the skies, but also overcome his pig-like ways in order to woo his love interest. It’s a beautiful film with wonderful Adriatic locales, fierce dogfights, and a story of love.
The film begins, post WW1. Porco is now a pilot for hire and flies his seaplane over the Adriatic foiling pirates and the like. This all changes once the American fly-boy Donald Curtis arrives and tries to move in on Porco’s love interest. Rivalry ensues in somewhat typical fashion, and the story stay on a fairly believable track. While most of Miyazaki’s moves contain a supernatural element, Porco Rosso keeps the surreal to a minimum, other than the initial curse that turned the protagonist into a pig, that is. There are no dream worlds and no monsters and because of this the film is more straightforward. This adds meaning to the piece as a whole because the film takes an outlandish premise but still sticks to a classic formula and shows it can still be done. To make up for the lack of the unreal spectacle, there are numerous shots of the sea, mountains and clouds. All of which are beautiful.
Eventually Porco even finds the beauty in himself. Even after his low point of being shot down by Curtis, Porco bounces back and redeems himself in what is easily the most haphazard and silly dogfight I’ve ever seen. The film is a classic adventure into character development and transformation and is highly recommended.
BY SAM FRIEDMAN
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