Porco Rosso (紅の豚) is a 1992 Japanese animated adventure fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1989 manga Hikōtei Jidai.[1] Produced by Toshio Suzuki and animated by Studio Ghibli, the film was distributed in Japan by Toho, with music composed by Joe Hisaishi. The Japanese voice cast includes Shūichirō Moriyama, Tokiko Kato, Akemi Okamura and Akio Otsuka. Set in a stylized version of the interwar Mediterranean, the film reflects Miyazaki's long-standing fascination with aviation, European settings and early twentieth-century history.
The story follows Marco Pagot, an Italian former World War I fighter ace who now works as a freelance bounty hunter pursuing bands of air pirates operating over the Adriatic Sea. For reasons left ambiguous, Marco has been transformed into an anthropomorphic pig and lives under the name Porco Rosso. When a brash American pilot, Donald Curtis, is hired to defeat him, Porco is forced to rebuild his aircraft with the help of a young engineer, Fio Piccolo, while confronting memories of his past and the emotional isolation that followed the war.
Blending aerial adventure with elements of fantasy and romantic drama, Porco Rosso explores themes of disillusionment, personal identity, and the lingering psychological scars of conflict. The film also reflects Miyazaki's anti-war sensibility and his critical view of rising fascism in interwar Italy, while celebrating the craftsmanship and romance of early aviation through detailed mechanical design and expansive flight sequences characteristic of the director's work.
The film was well received upon release and became one of the highest-grossing films in Japan in 1992. An English-language dub was initially produced for Japan Airlines and later replaced by a new version commissioned by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America in 2005. GKIDS subsequently reissued the film on home video in 2017 as part of its distribution agreement with Studio Ghibli. Porco Rosso is widely regarded as one of Miyazaki's most personal works and a notable entry in the Studio Ghibli catalogue.
Plot
In 1929, Italian World War I fighter ace and bounty hunter Porco Rosso, cursed to have a pig's head, defends an ocean liner from airborne pirates. He dines at his friend Gina's Hotel Adriano.
The pirates contract American ace Curtis to assist their attacks. Curtis falls in love with Gina despite her being in love with Porco. While Porco is flying to Milan to have his red seaplane serviced, Curtis shoots him down. Porco survives and continues the trip by boat with his damaged plane, to Gina's irritation. She reminds him there is a warrant for his arrest in Italy.
Porco meets his mechanic Piccolo in Milan. Piccolo's sons have emigrated so the work will be done by his young granddaughter Fio. Once Porco's plane is finished, Fio joins him on his flight home as cover should the secret police arrest them. They can claim that Porco took Fio hostage to force Piccolo to help. The new fascist government is hiring pirates for their own use, putting Porco out of business.
Curtis proposes to Gina but she says she is waiting for Porco. Gina sits in her garden each afternoon, waiting for Porco to meet her there, but he only ever visits her at night when the dim light will obscure his appearance. Porco and Fio are ambushed by the pirates, and Curtis challenges Porco to a duel. Fio declares that if Porco wins, Curtis must pay his debts owed to Piccolo's company, and if Curtis wins, he may marry her.
While Porco is preparing shells, Fio glimpses his true face. Porco tells Fio a story from World War I. Just after Gina's wedding to Porco's pilot friend Bellini, their squadron was attacked. Porco entered a cloud to evade his pursuers. He blacked out then awakened to complete stillness above the clouds. The airmen who died in the dogfight—Bellini included—rose out of the cloud to fly up towards a band of thousands of planes flying together.
Cast
The French dub of the film stars Jean Reno as Porco.[5]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of Porco Rosso was composed by Joe Hisaishi and released on July 25, 1992. It was recorded with a full orchestra of 70 musicians.[6]
The soundtrack features two vocal songs performed by Tokiko Kato, who also provides the Japanese voice for the character Gina. Miyazaki, a longtime admirer of Kato, cast her specifically for the role.
The opening theme is "Le temps des cerises" ("The Time of the Cherries"), a French song with lyrics written in 1866 by Jean-Baptiste Clément and music composed by Antoine Renard. Though originally a love song, it became closely associated with the Paris Commune of 1871 and the French left-wing political tradition. The ending theme, "Toki ni wa Mukashi no Hanashi wo" ("Once in a While, Let's Talk About the Old Days"), was written and composed by Kato herself.
Production
The film was originally planned as a short in-flight film for Japan Airlines based on Hayao Miyazaki's manga The Age of the Flying Boat, but grew into a feature-length film. The success of Kiki's Delivery Service placed pressure on Miyazaki's next feature film, so he decided to produce Porco Rosso as a shorter, direct-to-video interim.
Production began in the summer of 1989, but quickly stalled due to high expenses. The following winter, producer Toshio Suzuki suggested that the film be distributed to airlines, since it heavily featured aircraft. The idea was pitched to Japan Airlines, and the project became Japan's first in-flight feature film production, to be shown only on international flights.[7]
In November 1990, production resumed with an initial budget of ¥200,000,000 and a half-hour runtime. The runtime was extended to 45 minutes in August 1991 as Miyazaki's storyboards grew, and later to an hour, which qualified the project as a feature film. Production paused until a theatrical release was negotiated alongside the in-flight release, which would now be a month earlier.[7]
History, geography and politics
Marco is an Italian hero from the First World War and is shown fighting against Austro-Hungarian fighter planes in a flashback sequence. The story is set in Northern Italy, including Milan, and the Italian and Croatian Adriatic Sea east coast. Some locations resemble certain islands of the Italian Lakes. The concealed beach Porco uses as a hideout bears a strong resemblance to Stiniva Beach, on the southern side of the Croatian island of Vis.[9]
Miyazaki shed light on the political context of the making of the film in an interview with Empire. He reflects that the conflicts that broke out during the film's production (such as those in Dubrovnik and elsewhere) made Porco Rosso a much more complicated and difficult film.[10]
Evident historical and political realism aside, at least one scholar has argued that the film's more overt historical references can be understood as representative of wakon yōsai ( Jp ; "Japanese spirit, Western learning")—a tendency, since the Meiji period, for Japanese artists to paint Europe as spectacular, while simultaneously maintaining the distance necessary to preserve a distinct sense of Japanese identity. "In Porco Rosso," states academic Chris Wood, "Europe is tamed, rendered as a charming site of pleasurable consumption, made distant and viewed through a tourist gaze."
Homage to early aviation
The fictional "Piccolo" aircraft company depicted in the film is based on the Italian aircraft manufacturers Caproni and Piaggio. The jet shown in the last scene is very similar in concept to the Caproni C-22J, an aircraft designed by Carlo Ferrarin, a designer for Caproni, whose name is notably used in the film for Marco's Air Force pilot friend. The jet-amphibian also has a V-tail, slightly reminiscent of the Magister jet trainer. The Savoia-Marchetti S.55, Fiat C.R.20 and Macchi M.39 are featured in the movie.[12]
Porco's air-force friend Ferrarin was inspired by the Italian Air Force pilot Arturo Ferrarin who flew with an Ansaldo SVA.9 from Rome to Tokyo in 1920.[13] Additionally, the Caproni Ca.309 light reconnaissance aircraft, known as the "Ghibli", was the namesake for Miyazaki's and Takahata's animation studio.
Porco's plane is named after the Savoia S.21, but is based on the Macchi M.33.
Release
The film was released in Japan on July 18, 1992, by Toho and was released on VHS by Tokuma Shoten in 1993. The movie was later reissued on VHS by Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan (now Walt Disney Studios Japan) on April 23, 1999, and was released on DVD on December 18, 2002. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on November 6, 2013, with a reissue of the DVD following on July 16, 2014.
Japan Airlines commissioned an English dub that was produced in Japan in 1992 for viewing on international flights. The dub was supervised by Ward Sexton, who also starred as Porco.[2][3] Although Sexton felt the project was too big for an English-speaking cast in Japan, Studio Ghibli insisted he be in charge.[2] The dub was included in the 1996 Ghibli ga Ippai Laserdisc Box Set and on the 2002 Japanese DVD release of the film, both of which are out of print.
Reception
Box office
Porco Rosso was the number-one film on the Japanese market in 1992, with distribution rentals of ¥2.8 billion[20] and gross receipts of ¥5.4 billion,[21][22] at the time equivalent to US$,000,000.
In France, it sold 167,793 tickets,[23] equivalent to an estimated US$ at an average 1992 ticket price of FF34 ($6).[24] In other European countries, it grossed $573,719,[25]
Possible sequel
In 2011, Miyazaki said that he wanted to make a sequel to the film if his next few films following Ponyo were successful. The film's working name was Porco Rosso: The Last Sortie; it was to have been set during the Spanish Civil War with Porco appearing as a veteran pilot.[31] Miyazaki was to create the sequel, although the studio has since indicated that the sequel is not in their current plans.
External links
References
- Kurenai No Buta (Porco Rosso, The Crimson Pig) (1992) Feature Length Theatrical Animated Film Bcdb.com, retrieved October 19, 2016^
- Philip J Reed. Resident Evil Boss Fight Books, 2020, retrieved March 19, 2023^
- Philip J. Reed. REactors Noiseless Chatter, May 18, 2020, retrieved January 19, 2024