BIRDY

(December 1984, U.S.)

I have to be honest with you - I am not a great lover of birds. Considering this is the third film in a row about birds, frankly, I'm getting a little tired of the subject. But anyway...

Despite the fact that Nicolas Cage won the Oscar for best actor for his performance in LEAVING LAS VEGAS (I hated that movie!) and despite the fact that he's had a long and popular film career, there are only three that I consider to be GREAT films; they are WILD AT HEART (1990), RAISING ARIZONA (1987) and BIRDY. His performance as the best friend of a young man we only know as Birdy is one of the best of his career. This was before he sold himself to the typecast of mindless action hero.

Birdy (played by Matthew Modine) has a disturbing fixation with birds and flying. That coupled with his horrific Vietnam experiences push him over the edge. When he returns from the war, he's sent to a mental hospital for assessment and his friend Al (Cage) stays with him to try to reach him before he's separated from Birdy, leaving him alone and lost inside his mind. The film contains many flashback scenes of their life together as teenagers in 1960's Philadelphia, their developing friendship and their views of life. The film's musical score by Peter Gabriel adds a great degree of intensity to the story, giving the viewer a feeling that anything bad can happen at the turn of the next corner.

Director Alan Parker, whom many may associate with musicals like FAME and EVITA has also dove into the mind's madness (see MIDNIGHT EXPRESS and PINK FLOYD THE WALL). It's intruiging to watch BIRDY and wonder along the way what drives a young man's world into total madness and despair, and will he ever break free of it? Birdy does triumphantly break free of it at the end, but it may only be temporary. As soon as he's standing on the roof of the hospital, his first thought is to try and fly again.

I think we've all heard R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly". Watching BIRDY can definitely make you wonder if it's possible (without intense drugs, I mean).

Favorite line or dialogue:

Al: "Birdy!"
Birdy [to a surprised Al, who was expecting to see Birdy dead]: "What?"