Miyazaki’s masterpiece returns to cinema

Taken from the manga

Hekote Jedai”

(“The Age of Seaplanes”) by Hayao Miyazaki, “Porco Rosso” is a hymn to life and a tribute to Italy and a film that deals with issues of the day, denouncing regimes and taking a political side, as the protagonist himself says with the phrase now part of the general language: “Instead of becoming Fascist, you’d better be a pig.”

Marco Bagot

(The name was chosen in honor of the Pagot family, known for his work in Italian animation and the creation of iconic characters such as Grisù and Calimero – ed) is an Italian master of military aviation who, after a mysterious accident during World War I, magically takes the form of an anthropomorphic pig. Under the nom de guerre of Porco Rosso, on his crimson seaplane, he decided to retire from the military world and earn a living as a bounty hunter. But the arrival of the American pilot Curtis, hired by sky pirates, forced him to take on new battles in the skies of the Adriatic, to continue the fight against fascism in order to protect humanity and restore lost love.

Several places in the film reinforce the director’s love for Italy: from the views of the Adriatic to the bridges over the river that remind Poe in Turin; From Navigli in Milan to the island of Hotel Adriano which refers to the lake landscape of northern Italy. But also the names of some of the characters are a tribute to the beautiful country: Ferrarin, who mentions pilot Arturo Ferrarin, or Bellini who mentions pilot Stanislao Bellini.