Compared with iconic masterpieces such as "Spirited Away" and "Castle in the Sky", "Porco Rosso" may be a relatively unpopular one of the Hayao Miyazaki series of movies.
In fact, this 92-year-old animated film was not created late, but compared to Miyazaki's other works, it seems that not many people can think of it at the first time.
It's like an unpopular record, always in a cold corner on the stand of many classic works.
In fact, this is an autobiographical film by Hayao Miyazaki, in which Miyazaki compares himself to Porco Rosso and puts his own involuntary ambivalence in the world into the character, thus constituting Porco Rosso's life.
Hayao Miyazaki's family was engaged in aircraft manufacturing, and his experience during the war period gave him a lot to think about the war.
He once said that a man would become a pig when he reached 40, and Miyazaki also painted himself as a pig in many manga after the upheaval in Eastern Europe.
Therefore, this "Porco Rosso" is also known as Miyazaki's autobiographical work, and the airplane cemetery in it can also be understood as a funeral song that he recited to his ideals. Hayao Miyazaki compares himself to Porco Rosso and puts his involuntary ambivalence in the world on the role, thus constituting Porco Rosso's life.
The story of Porco Rosso is like a middle-aged man who has experienced many ups and downs in life, alone, calm without a trace of ups and downs, narrating his life.
It's like a glass of mellow wine, which is not spicy in the throat, but stretches for thousands of miles, and has an endless aftertaste. This is also the feeling of many people when they watch Porco Rosso again many years later. This film is actually more suitable for all adult people than for children, the kind of people of all ages.
"Porco Rosso" is not for children, after all, who would talk about the loneliness and vicissitudes of adults with a group of children whose lives have not yet been fully opened.
But until the end, you will also feel that there are some things that you still don't understand.
Like Miyazaki's other works, this film has a distinctly anti-war core.
The story is set between World War I and World War II, in which Porco Rosso suffered too much, and his brother, who grew up together, died in a plane crash, even if he was willing to die for his brother.
Later, the country was victorious, but under the influence of fascist politics, he did not want to become a tool of war, and because he saved the enemy pilots, he was called a traitor.
The former comrades-in-arms persuaded the then loose Porco Rosso to join them, but Porco Rosso replied with a particularly classic sentence:
It is better to be a fascist than a pig. ”
This is Porco Rosso's freedom and his pride.
Hayao Miyazaki's insinuation in the film about middle-aged people's views on love is also worth taking a closer look.
Many people think that Porco Rosso is slow to love.
But really?
Gina, the first woman in the film, is Porco Rosso's childhood sweetheart, and the two grew up together. Because of the war, the two missed, and he gave her a marriage certificate to his friend, and it was also because of the war that Gina lost three lovers. She once told Cadiz that she would marry Porco Rosso as long as he entered the garden during the day.
It's a pity that Porco Rosso never went in from beginning to end.
His emotions are subtle, maybe adult love is the same, just know that the other party is okay, even if it's just the identity of a pig, just guard her, this kind of state of imminent separation may be the most balanced state for them, once broken, the outcome is unpredictable.
It is precisely because Gina has lost enough in the war that Porco Rosso prefers to be a careful guardian, to be her friend, to listen to her sing, to chat with her, but never to go into her garden during the day.
Porco Rosso is his curse on himself, a way for him to escape reality and a way to escape his responsibilities as a human being.
But is he really that cowardly?
It doesn't seem to be, in his call with Gina, Gina felt that he was flying too dangerously, and said, "Marco, you will become a roast pig sooner or later, so I don't want to attend this kind of funeral." But he replied: "A pig that can't fly is just an ordinary pig." ”
Although Porco Rosso has always been evading, he has always had his own principles and bottom line, and he has always had persistence and love for the sky.
This is the freedom that belongs only to adults, the romance that belongs to adults alone, and the loneliness that belongs only to adults.
In this life, Porco Rosso still missed Gina after all, but at the end of the story, he still got rid of the curse on himself.