An insanely fun film with a single scene that lifts it into the heavens.
77/100
Original Release: 1992
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Shūichirō Moriyama, Akio Otsuka, Akemi Okamura
Favourite Quote:
Fio: “God was telling you, it wasn't your time yet.”
Porco: “You think? Seems to me, he was telling me maybe I was a pig and I deserved to be all alone.”
Fio: “You can't believe that! You're a good person!”
Porco: “No! The good ones are the ones who died. Or maybe I'm dead, life as a pig. It's the same thing as hell. Now go to sleep.”
Favourite Shot:
Porco Rosso is a film about a man who has a pig head for a head. All you know about him is: this man has a pig head for a head and he’s an awesome pilot. And for a long time you think that that’s the movie, and you’re happy with it.
And then two thirds into the film Miyazaki supplies us with a scene which both explains Porco’s (Shūichirō Moriyama) pig head and improves the, already fun, film ten fold. It is a scene that adds depth, likeability, emotion and nuance to a character that could’ve just been kept as a stereotype.
The scene I’m referring to is when, during the war, Porco and his team go into aerial combat against enemy planes. Each of Porco’s team is killed and Porco is left by himself and is sure he is about to die.
He waits to die when suddenly the plane flies itself up above the clouds into a space between the clouds and the heavens. There is silence. Porco looks out to see a huge beam of light shining from heaven down, with tiny objects inside of it.
It is a very profound comment on survivors guilt and the effects of war on soldiers. How can you be proud of something you did which was terrible? And how do you move past it?
Out of the silence, Porco sees all the other pilots rise above him. He calls out to them but receives no response. The pilots rise toward this beam of light and he stays motionless. And it is here we realise that the tiny objects inside the beam of light are other dead pilots and their planes seemingly ascending to heaven. And it is an altogether horrific, emotional and graceful image.
When Porco comes back to reality he is alone and alive, but left with the curse of a pig head. And because we are two thirds into the movie we understand that his life has been ruled by both having this curse and trying to understand why he has it.
It is a very profound comment on survivors guilt and the effects of war on soldiers. How can you be proud of something you did which was terrible? And how do you move past it?
Porco lives alone. He refuses to acknowledge that there is a woman who is in love with him because he believes that it could never be true. He outcasts himself from everyone. And previously we thought he may have just been a stereotypical loner character, but now we realise it is much deeper.
Other than this pure moment of poignancy, Porco Rosso is a big ball of fun. In the opening scene a bunch of sea pirates take a class of schoolgirls hostage. Instead of being afraid, the schoolgirls cause chaos on the plane as they try to play with the pirates.
There is a sub plot about a girl plane mechanic name Fio (Akemi Okamura) who is confident, kind hearted and great at her job. In a highlight scene she rouses on a whole squad of pirates who should be ashamed of themselves and their actions. And also shouldn’t destroy the plane she had just worked so hard on.
And then there is also a joyous finale filled with energy, comedy and chaos where Porco and the American, Donald Curtis (Akio Otsuka), duel it out in the air and then in a hilarious boxing match on land where each knocks the other out simultaneously.
Porco Rosso also features some of the best locations of any Miyazaki film. There’s the secluded beach where Porco hides out, listens to the radio and drinks whiskey. There’s also the Hotel Adriano located on a tiny island where they all fly their seaplanes to, to have a drink. And then there’s some glorious shots set in Milan when Fio is fixing Porco’s plane.
Porco Rosso is a joyous film about life after the war. What happened to the people who were involved and survived, but also what happened to the people who weren’t directly involved but had to live through it. It is intricately animated, funny and rewatchable.
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