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Porco Rosso
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Porco Rosso, known in Japan as is the sixth anime film by Hayao Miyazaki, released in 1992, about an Italian World War I fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. The man has been cursed, and has the head of a pig. Once called Marco Pagot, he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig."
The animation is loosely based on Miyazaki's manga Hikotei Jidai.
film tells of the story of Porco and his would-be romance with Gina, who runs a sea pilots' club and hotel in the Adriatic Sea.
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Encyclopedia
Porco Rosso, known in Japan as is the sixth anime film by Hayao Miyazaki, released in 1992, about an Italian World War I fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. The man has been cursed, and has the head of a pig. Once called Marco Pagot, he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig."
The animation is loosely based on Miyazaki's manga Hikotei Jidai.
Plot
The film tells of the story of Porco and his would-be romance with Gina, who runs a sea pilots' club and hotel in the Adriatic Sea. The plot revolves around Porco's friendship with a young girl named Fio, who is a talented aircraft engineer; and his rivalry with a hotshot American pilot named Curtis. Porco has been cursed with the face of a pig, though the origin and nature of Porco's curse is never fully explained.
Originally a WWI ace pilot in the Italian Air Force, Porco has grown disillusioned and now makes his living as a bounty hunter guarding ships in the Adriatic sea from pirate gangs with planes. Though rivals, Porco and the pirates manage to coexist with a minimum of bloodshed. For relaxation, he and other pilots spend their evenings on neutral ground at the Hotel Adriano, an establishment run by a chanteuse named Gina.
Synopsis
The opening scene shows Porco in his flight suit, resting on the beach of a tiny island. After he finishes negotiating the price of his services by telephone, he leisurely takes off in his red sea plane to rescue a kidnapped group of young girls. Afterward, he flies to the Hotel Adriano for dinner and spends some time with Gina, one of Porco's closest friends, and the owner of the only picture (albeit a defaced one) of Porco in human form. While at the hotel, Porco also meets Curtis, a crack American pilot who is negotiating an employment contract with a band of pirates.
Some time later, as Porco flies his plane into Milan for repairs, Curtis shoots him down. Though Curtis believes Porco to be dead, he has landed his damaged plane on an island. Porco finishes his journey to Milan and has his plane repaired by Piccolo S.p.A., an aircraft design shop owned by an old mechanic and friend of Porco's. Because of the Great Depression, men have left in droves to find work abroad, and the company enlists the aid of the owner's granddaughter, Fio, along with a work force consisting entirely of female relatives to work on redesign and repair of the plane. Despite his initial misgivings, Porco soon realize that Fio, in spite her age and gender, is a competent mechanic. His plane is completed, and she insists to fly with him for the test flight. At first he is resolutely against it, but she talks him into letting her on, and Fio flies off together with him, barely avoiding an ambush by the secret police.
Meanwhile, Curtis has found his way into Gina's private garden and invites her to a glamorous life back in America. Gina laughs and refuses (later telling him "love here is more complicated than in the USA"). Stung, he asks who she is waiting for, and Gina tells him she has bet with herself that Porco will one day come into her garden to take her away. Just then Porco's plane appears and circles Gina's garden, but Porco does not land.
Upon landing at his island hideaway, Porco discovers that it has been infiltrated by pirates. Fio talks them out of killing Porco or destroying his plane, and appeals to their honor as seaplane pilots. Curtis then reveals himself and challenges Porco to a duel. The terms of the duel are agreed upon: if Porco wins, Curtis will pay off his airplane repairs, but if Curtis wins, Fio will marry him.
Later that night, Fio wakes up and thinks she has glimpsed Porco in human form. She asks him to tell her a story and he tells her about a strange incident that happened to him in the last summer of the war, when Porco was still in the air force. Porco's best friend and fellow fighter Bellini had married Gina and immediately after, he and Porco had returned to the skies and were attacked by an enemy squadron. Exhausted and struggling to operate the plane's controls, Porco fell asleep at the controls. He awoke later to find his plane has piloted itself into a cloud of startling brightness and purity and he imagined himself to be in heaven. Emerging at the top of the cloud, he spotted a white band high above him. The other squadron pilots from the battle, including Bellini, emerged from the cloud in their planes and climbed to the white band, which is revealed to the viewer to be a vast procession of planes downed in battle. Porco shouted to Bellini that he must not leave Gina. Bellini, apparently deaf to Porco's cry, did not turn. Porco admits that this incident is a great source of guilt for him, and it is unclear as to whether this caused his transformation. (Note that Porco's story is very similar to Roald Dahl's short story "They Shall Not Grow Old" for his collection of short stories "Over To You", first published in 1946.)
The next day, Porco and Curtis meet for the dogfight. The duel is organized by the pirates and held on a secluded island. The outcome is heavily bet on by criminals and seaplane pilots alike. At the fight's beginning, Porco merely avoids Curtis, baiting him into wasting bullets. However, as the fight progresses, Curtis apprehends the strategy and starts conserving his ammo. Porco outflies him and gains a superior firing position by using the loop maneuver which made him top Ace of the Adriatic during the war, but still he does not shoot at Curtis. Though Curtis thinks that his enemy's guns are jammed, but the real reason is revealed to Fio by one of the pirate bosses: Porco will not take a shot at an enemy if there is a risk of hitting the pilot. Curtis taunts the pig that his guns are jammed, but is quickly shut up by a short burst of fire from the red seaplane. This is the start of a stalemate, with each pilot attempting to gain the advantage over the other.
Meanwhile, Gina has received a message from a friend that the Italian Air Force are rushing toward the fight with an arrest warrant out for Porco, and she takes it upon herself to warn him.
Back at the fight, both pilots are extraordinarily tired, and beginning to fade. Porco finally gains an angle for a clear shot at Curtis' engine, but is dismayed to find that his machine gun is jammed and he cannot fire. Curtis sees this vulnerability, and attempts to shoot Porco as well but discovers he has run out of bullets. Both eventually settle on throwing debris from their planes at each other, until they land in the bay and the duel degenerates into a fistfight. Both are quickly exhausted, and eventually fall into the surf.
Gina's plane arrives. She tells Porco to get up, and in doing so, he wins the fight and the duel. Gina then warns the island's inhabitants of the approaching Italian Air Force and they promptly flee. Curtis holds up his end of the deal and pays Fio. As she leaves with Gina, Fio kisses Porco and he falls into the water, bowled over by the wake of Gina's plane. Porco tells Curtis that he is going to draw the Air Force away from the others, and asks if Curtis wants to join him. Curtis agrees, and then exclaims, "Hey! Your face!" and demands that Porco give him a closer look, but Porco resolutely continues to walks towards his plane.
The film ends with a voice over narration by Fio describing the years that follow, in which she inherits the Piccolo company, Curtis becomes a Hollywood star, and the pirate pilots spend their old age reminiscing at Gina's club. She reveals that Porco "flew circles around the Italian Air Force", and remains at large. In reference to Gina's bet with herself regarding Porco, she says that it's "their secret". However, a red plane can be seen at the other end of Gina's island.
History and politics
Porco Rosso is one of the few movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki in which the historical and geographical settings are clearly defined, and where most of the story could have happened in the real world. Marco is a hero from the first World War and is shown fighting against Imperial Austro-Hungarian fighter planes in a flashback sequence. The story is set in the Adriatic sea, most likely near Rijeka in Croatia and the surrounding Croatian islands.
The story takes place between the two World Wars. The fashion of women's clothing displayed and the references to the rise of fascism in Italy link the story to the 1920s; the scenes in the Adriatic town suggest that the town is Rijeka, then called Fiume and under Italian control at that time, and the year about 1927. Since Italy, like many European countries, suffered severe economic hardship after the First World War, the economic crisis mentioned in the movie is probably the European 1920s post-war depression rather than the global depression of the 1930s. The manga from which the movie was derived specifically states that the story takes place in 1929 at an unspecified location in the general area of Rijeka/Fiume. The feature-length movie confirms this date in an early scene, Porco is seen napping with a magazine entitled Cinema with the date 1929 featured on the bottom of the cover.
The story takes place during the fascist era. Italian guards are portrayed in military parades with typical fascist uniforms ("blackshirts"), albeit with different colors (black, blue and green). When Porco is buying ammo from his favorite tool shop, the owner states that "government is changing again", as fascism was rising in that period and was initially seen by many as a "firm answer" to political turmoil and instability in post-war Italy.
Porco also makes statements about his being anti-fascist. Although his transformation into a pig is never fully explained, it is hinted that it is due to him leaving his country's air force (thus turning his back on his country) because of Italy turning toward fascism. At one point he says "I'd much rather be a pig than a fascist".
Homage to early aviation
The fictional "Piccolo" aircraft company depicted in the film may be a reference to the Italian aircraft manufacturer Caproni: the jet shown in the last scene is very similar to the late Caproni C22-J, an aircraft designed by Carlo Ferrarin (a designer for Caproni, whose name is also notably used in the movie for Marco's Air Force pilot friend). Additionally, the light reconnaissance aircraft Caproni Ca.309 is known under the name "Ghibli", the same name as Miyazaki's and Takahata's animation studio.
In the early 1930s, Italian seaplane designers set world speed records (such as the Macchi M.C.72 designed by the Italian airplane designer Mario Castoldi). One of the test pilots killed during the attempt to set the speed record was named Bellini, the name given to Porco's pilot friend in the film.
Marco Pagot, the name of the main character, is also a homage to the Pagot brothers, pioneers of Italian animation (Nino Pagot was the author of the first Italian animated feature film, "I fratelli dinamite", and his sons Marco and Gi Pagot were Miyazaki's collaborators in the production of Sherlock Hound).
Meanwhile, the character of Curtiss is likely to have been named after the American aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss who, along with the Wright Brothers, founded the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
Production
The film was originally planned as a short in-flight movie for Japan Airlines based on Hayao Miyazaki's manga The Age of the Flying Boat, but grew into a feature-length film. The outbreak of war in Yugoslavia cast a shadow over production and prompted a more serious tone for the movie, which originally had been set in Croatia. The airline remained a major investor in the film, and showed it as an in-flight movie well before its theatrical release.
Technically, the film shows Studio Ghibli's exacting attention to details, both in the animation and in the historical Italian elements (although some Italian words are shown misspelled in the local newspaper of Milan).
Credits
- Original story, screenplay written and directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
- Music director: Joe Hisaishi
- Supervising animators: Megumi Kagawa, Toshio Kawaguchi
- Art director: Katsu Hisamura
- Color design: Michiyo Yasuda
- Camera supervisor: Atsushi Okui
- Theme Song Performance: Tokiko Kato
- Editor: Takeshi Seyama
- "Porco Rosso" Production committee: Tokuma Shoten, Japan Airlines, Nippon Television Network, Studio Ghibli
- Executive producers: Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Matsuo Toshimitsu, Yoshio Sasaki
- Associate executive producers (planning): Tatsumi Yamashita, Hideo Ogata
- Producer: Toshio Suzuki
- Distributor: Toho
- Production: Studio Ghibli
Cast
- Mamma Aiuto Gang: Bill Fagerbakke, Kevin Michael Richardson, Frank Welker
- Additional Voices by Jack Angel, Dee Bradley Baker, Michael Bell, Jeff Bennett, Earl Boen, Cameron Bowen, Rodger Bumpass, Corey Burton, Jennifer Darling, Debi Derryberry, Ashley Edner, Paul Eiding, Bill Farmer, Pat Fraley, Brian George, Lynn Harris, Tom Kenny, Sherry Lynn, Tress MacNeille, Kaitlyn Maggio, Mickie McGowan, Laraine Newman, Rob Paulsen, Philip Proctor, Aimee Rolden, Deanne Russo, and Jim Ward
Reception
- "Prix du long métrage (Feature movie) International Animation film festival - Annecy 1993
External links
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