In November 1995, a former high-end computer hardware company released a film about talking toys that would change movie history forever. The studio was Pixar. The film was Toy Story.
Porco Rosso
director: Hayao Miyazaki
price: Rs 2,999
(box set of 7 DVDs)
Alliance Media and Entertainment
Film: ***
In November 1995, a former high-end computer hardware company released a film about talking toys that would change movie history forever. The studio was Pixar. The film was Toy Story. The gamble was successful. By injecting a bunch of toys with life and speech, Pixar's animators got to play God in their imagined universes. Sixteen years later, with the possible exception of 2009's Up that featured an elderly man as its main protagonist, Pixar's characters have remained human only in spirit. Writer-director-animator Hayao Miyazaki's universe is vastly different. The landscapes are peopled with men and women battling guilt or existential angst, often against the backdrop of political turmoil. The titular hero of Porco Rosso, Italian for 'Red Pig', is no different, except that he has a pig's head, which was once human. 
The 1992 Japanese film produced by Studio Ghibli, and dubbed in English, is about an Italian World War I fighter ace, once known as Marco Pagot, who now works as a freelance bounty hunter chasing out-of-work WWI pilots turned air pirates. Porco disappears from the skies after American Donald Curtis shoots down his trademark red plane. During the time Porco goes missing, we learn that his face is the result of a curse that is never clearly spelt out. It's also possible that Miyazaki ufffd known for his feminist leanings ufffd was being 'literal' given that Porco is depicted as a chauvinist and occasionally even refers to himself as a pig ('I'm a pig, I don't fight for honour, I fight for a pay cheque').
If you can overlook details like the school girls and the pirates, who appear to be clones of each other (which can be argued is the animator's way of portraying these characters), then you might appreciate the beauty of this canvas. The pace of the film is relatively languid, especially since we're so used to fast-talking characters on a course that moves even faster. But if you're keen to expose yourself to cinema worlds outside of Hollywood, then watch this film. Because, as much as we might love Pixar, it's time we lifted our heads off its altar and looked up.
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Available as part of a 7-DVD box set that includes Castle in the Sky, Pom Poko and Whisper of the Heart. Other titles available in three DVD-box sets for Rs 1,499 at Rhythm House, Crossword and Reliance outlets
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