Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso 紅の豚Kurenai no Buta, lit. Crimson Pig, is the story of former World War I fighting ace Marco Pagot, now a bounty hunter who has been cursed and changed into a pig. Now known as Porco Rosso, Italian for Red Pig, he flies about the Adriatic Sea hunting down air pirates.

Summary
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 seaplane to rescue a kidnapped group of girls. Afterward, he flies to the Hotel Adriano for dinner and spends some time with Gina, one of his 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. Curtis believes Porco to be dead, but he successfully lands 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 workforce of female relatives to work on redesign and repair of the plane. Despite his initial misgivings, Porco soon realizes that Fio, in spite of her age and gender, is a competent mechanic. His plane is completed, and she insists on flying 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 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"). Stunned, 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; 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, where their seaplanes were attacked by an Austrian squadron. Exhausted and struggling to operate his plane, 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. It is unclear as to whether this caused his transformation.

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 the 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 that made him Ace of the Adriatic during the war, but still he does not shoot at Curtis. 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 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, knocked over by the wing 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 walk toward 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. (This summary was taken from Wikipedia)

Influences
The world of Porco Rosso is based strongly on actual history. The curse aside, the rest of the movie has a basis in historical facts. It was set in between World War I and World War II. During this time, Fascism was beginning to rise in Italy.

Reception
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Critically, Porco Rosso did well. It even managed a 100 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Porco Rosso is a lesser known Miyazaki film. This may be due to its historical tones and slightly different feel.

Awards
Feature Movie--International Animation Film Festival

Cast
Japanese:
 * Porco Rosso - Shuichiro Moriyama
 * Donald Curtis - Akio Otsuka
 * Madame Gina - Tokiko Kato
 * Mamma Aiuto Gang Boss - Tsunehiko Kamijo
 * Mr. Piccolo - Sanshi Katsura
 * Fio Piccolo - Akemi Okamura

English:
 * Porco Rosso - Michael Keaton
 * Donald Curtis - Cary Elwes
 * Madame Gina - Susan Egan
 * Mamma Aiuto Gang Boss - Brad Garrett
 * Mr. Piccolo - David Ogden Stiers
 * Fio Piccolo - Kimberly Williams-Paisley