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"I'd rather be a pig than a fascist"
Everyone who has ever seen a Miyazaki movie probably knows that the man loves flying and all sorts of flying machines. So it must have been a dream come true for him to make a movie that's essentially about flying. And because of Miyazaki's passion for his subject, this movie is a dream come true to watch.
The hero is the italian captain Marco Pagot, aka the crimson pig. You see, for reasons never fully explained, captain Pagot has been turned into a pig. It's implicated that Marco, a hero during the first world war, somehow turned himself into a pig after the war. Its also impicated that the reason for this is his experinces during the war left him so emotionally scarred that he wants nothing to do with humankind anymore. In the film's "now", the late 1920s, Marco seems perfectly content flying his red plane and working as a bounty hunter. But times become harder, both for Marco and the air pirates he chases, as Italy's fascist government tries to control all flying, making both sea pirates and bounty hunters illegal. Even though Marco chases the sea pirates, especially the Mama Aiuto gang, they still somehow seem to be on the same side. And then there's the two women who love Marco, his childhood friend Gina and the young Fio. At a difficault time, Marco must find out if perhaps there still are some things worth fighting for.
With a review of Porco rosso, I think I have to focus extra much on the characters. Miyazaki has a great skill in creating animated characters that you actually care about, but in my opinion his best characters as a whole are in Porco rosso. First there's Marco of course, a man no longer young, who is so disillusioned that he wants nothing to do with the human race. Marco isn't a "bad" person (sorry pig), he's just been through so much and lost so many good friends that he's become a bit cynical. As a pig, Marco can do and say things that others can't, for example critisize the faschist regime. Gina, oh Gina, where do I begin? Gina is like no other Miyazaki heroine, but she's actually the most wonderful of them all. Like Marco, she has had a fair share of heartache and loss and like him, she's not young anymore and can't go back to what she used to be. She's married three of Marco's friends and all three of them are now dead. But even though all the heartache she's been through,she's still willing to give love another chance with Marco. When I watched Porco rosso with my girlfriend, what blew us both away was Gina's beauty as she sang her song. In her book about Miyazaki,Helen McCarthy talks about the theme of the older and younger woman, where the older woman is more worldly and "bad" and the younger woman the pure heroine. (Kushana/Nausicaa in Nausicaa of the valley of the wind, Lady Eboshi/San in Princess Mononoke etc). McCarthy also took up the relationship between Gina and Fio in Porco rosso, but I don't wholly agree with it. 17-year old Fio, the granddaughter of Marco's mechanic, is a more typical Miyazaki heroine, but she isn't the heroine of the story, Gina is. Like most Ghibli heroines, Fio is a brave young woman,ready to fight for what she believes in, but still very innocent and not accustomed to the adult world. Fio must fight extra hard to be a mechanic, because she's a girl,but she's a tough girl, ready to prove that she's as good as any boy. The air pirates that get the most film time, the Mama aiuto gang, have to be Miyazaki's funniest "villains". From the moment we first see them as they take a class of little schoolgirls hostage, it becomes clear that all their plans of being feared airpirates will epically fail. As Marco comes to the rescue, it's left unclear who exactly need rescuing and from whom. My guess is that it's the Mama Aiuto gang who need rescuing from the little girls. The Mama Aiuto gang are so funny and loveable precisely because nothing ever seems to go according to the plans for them. Curtis, a young american air pirate, is exactly that, a young american air pirate, a bit lost in Europe but with great belief in himself. There's something very schoolboy-like about him and his crush on Gina.
Visually this movie is stunning. Because it's Miyazaki, the sky and the airplanes are of course extra stunning. All aircraft are beautlifully detailed, but the most beautiful of them all is Marco's red folglore. There are so many stunning scenes with Marco flying through the clear, sunlit sky. Almost as beautiful as the air is the ocean,with Gina's hotel Adriano shining in the middle of it like a pearl. This is a movie where most of the action is around these two elements, the sky and the ocean, so they deservedly take center stage. Joe Hisaishi's music is wonderful, but the my favourite song in the whole movie is Gina's beautiful version of the old french song Les temps du cherizes. The whole scene where Gina sings is so beautiful and a little sad, you just want to admire this beautiful, strong woman, like all the air pirates do.
The scene in any Miyazaki-film that touches me the most is really one from Porco rosso; the one where Gina remembers her and Marco's first flight. Curtis very tactlessly enters Gina's private garden and wants her with him to America. Gina declines and says that she's made a bet with herself; if he (Marco) comes into the garden when she's there on her own she'll tell him that she loves him. Then Marco's red plane flies over the garden and Marco does tricks for her. As one of Hisaishi's most beautiful pieces is played, you see Gina remembering her and Marco's first flight, when they were both very young. This scene is so beautiful because it shows the deep connection between Gina and Marco, a connection no coocky young Curtis can break. It shows that even though Marco and Gina are no longer the two teenagers out on their first flight and even though all the heartache, Marco and Gina can find back to each other. And Ginas affectionate "baka" (idiot) at the end of the scene just makes it more beautiful.
Porco rosso is perhaps the Miyazaki movie with the most open ending. You really have to put the pieces in Fio's monologue at the end together yourself, and I guess there are as many interpretations about the ending as there are viewers. It's fairly clear that Marco and Gina got each other, because at the end, when Fio is flying over Gina's island, you can see a red plane parked at one edge of the island, the one where Gina's secret garden is. A plane so red it can only belong to one certain Marco Pagot. The big question is if Marco decided to become human again. I think there are two pretty big hints that Marco turned into a human again. The first one is when Curtis gasps "Your face" after their fight. The bigger hint is that Fio says in her ending speech that she never saw Porco rosso again (after the fight). We know that Fio often visits Gina and that Gina and that Gina and Marco are together,so my guess is that this almost has to mean that Marco is a man again (at least part of the time). But as I've said, this is only my interpretation and the ending is very open.
Porco rosso at first seems to be a happy,action-packed movie, but that's not the whole truth. Yes, there are funny scenes and loads of action, but underneath the action the movie has a serius side. The fascist are taking over Italy and are trying to destroy Marco's and the other character's whole world. What becomes of the air pirates and bounty hunters if it's just allowed to fly for the state? As a pig, Marco can disengage himself from the human world, like telling a former army friend that he'd rather be a pig than a fascist, but the government does more and more to try to get rid of Marco's kind. There's another serious theme at the heart of Porco Rosso;even more serious than the fascist theme, the theme of identity. The core question of the whole movie seems to be: is there still something to fight for and believe in for a man like Marco, even though so much is wrong with this world? The ones who help Marco answer this question to himself are the two women who love and trust him:Gina and Fio. Marco's childhood friend's love and a young girl's trust seem to show Marco that yes; there are still things that are beautiful and true and worth fighting for. Sometimes you can let your cynisicm go and be vulnerable, even if you have been hurt before. And sometimes, just sometimes, middle aged pigs can be heroes, save the day and win the girl.
Post last edited by Heidi80 on 10.17.2011, 03:35 PM.
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10.17.2011, 11:39 AM
