Porco Rosso

If I were to take one movie to a deserted island, it would be Hayao Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso.

Studio Ghibli’s animated movies were an integral part of my childhood. I love them all a lot, but Porco Rosso is the one I never get tired of. It’s a childhood memory that keeps on expanding the more you experience adulthood.

It’s not just a story about a biplane pilot turned into a pig fighting air pirates. It’s about love, freedom, solitude, the search of lost time, and the darkness of human nature.

Porco came out alive of World War I, unlike his closest friends. The movie describes how he overcomes survivor guilt—the main protagonist turning into a pig being an allegory of this guilt and hatred for humanity.

At the beginning of the movie, Porco has cut most of his human connections and lives a solitary existence hidden away from the secular world. His sole purpose is to survive, i.e to make a living by protecting others from pirates. He doesn’t do it because he cares about others, it’s just a mean to feed his escapism.

The rest of the movie is about how he gradually regains his humanity after losing his priced biplane (and thus re-questioning his identity) and meeting a girl mechanic.

The beautiful scenery, the historical context of the story, and Joe Hisaishi’s soundtrack makes the movie unlike anything I’ve ever seen or felt. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind are beautiful Ghibli movies as well, but none resonate with me as much as Porco Rosso does.