Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

So it's 1991, and I've just read a comment in a book which alludes to the novel "Birdy" by William Wharton. The comment referred to a "lunatic", whose life could be compared to that of the protagonist in Wharton's book. So "Birdy" went on my "To Read" list, and I got around to it a couple of months later. Having been quite taken with the book, of course, the next step was to watch the 1984 movie directed by Alan Parker based on it. Not only because I'm a sucker for a movie based on a book, but also, because I wanted to see how Parker managed to capture the extreme and raw intensity of Wharton's masterpiece.

British director Alan Parker has scored himself more than his fair share of box office successes, you might recall the likes of "Midnight Express" and "Mississippi Burning", or his music orientated pieces such as "Fame", "Bugsy Malone" and "The Commitments". Then there's his most recent success, "The Life of David Gale". But somewhere in-between all these memorable marvels, is this one. The 2 main stars of this movie are Nicholas Cage and Matthew Modine, both of whom were in their early 20's at the time, and still fledgling actors (Oh! the puns just get worse). Though Cage had had a certain level of success prior to this in films such as "Rumble Fish" and "The Cotton Club", Modine was still working his way up the movie actor ladder. So what did I think of this movie? Well, let's see...


"Birdy" (1984)

Directed by;

Alan Parker

Based on the 1978 novel "Birdy", by William Wharton.

Of course, having read the book, I was already familiar with the characters and story line. I'd built up images in my mind of how they looked, their surroundings, the whole atmosphere. I'd already played out an entire movie in my own mind whilst I read the book from start to finish, and of course, everyone knows seeing the movie after you've read the book, can either underline your preconceptions, or shatter them into smithereens.


Characters

There's this rather eccentric teenage boy who lives in a run down area of Philadelphia a few years prior to the Vietnam war. Urban poverty surrounds him, he comes from a poor family, his Father, Walt (George Buck; Bull Durham, Angel Heart - Another Parker movie) being the local high school's janitor. He spends all of his time occupying himself with his fascination for birds, instead of choosing to play with the other kids. This earns him the nickname of "Birdy" (Matthew Modine; Full Metal Jacket, Memphis Belle) and also gets him the reputation of being somewhat of a "weirdo". His obsession for these feathered beings does not simply lie in a love for this particular type of creature, his strange preoccupation actually lies in what they can do. Fly. His obsession with flight consumes him, he makes bird suits for himself out of pigeon feathers, he spends hours just staring at the sky, watching as birds swoop and soar. He has a rather large aviary which he built himself, where he keeps his pigeons, he tends to them, talks to them, even sleeps with them on occasion. Friendless and lonely, his birds are his life. That is until Al (Nicholas Cage; Face/Off, The Rock) comes along.

Al Columbato is a self assured teenager, he spends much of time playing baseball with the neighbourhood kids, or with girls getting up to no good behind bicycle sheds. He has very little to do with Birdy (whose real name we never learn), aside from getting into a few altercations with Birdy's Mother (Delores Sage - only movie), who keeps stealing their baseballs when they fly over into her back yard, and continues this for quite a number of years. Then one afternoon, after a game of baseball, a kid complains to Al that Birdy has his pocket knife, so Al wonders over to Birdy's house, where Birdy is sat on the front porch building some small cages. Instantly Al strikes out at Birdy and a scuffle ensues, Al yelling for Birdy to give the knife back. It turns out to be some misunderstanding, Birdy hadn't stolen the knife. Al is quite sorry for lashing out so brutally, and actually gives Birdy his own knife. As Al is wondering away, Birdy, happy at this token gesture of possible friendship, says to Al;

"Do you like pigeons?"

"Why?"

"Because they can fly".

And so begins a strange and wonderful friendship. But of course, it's not without its fair share of tragic and triumphant events.


Story

Interestingly, this movie starts somewhere in the middle of the story line. After the start of the Vietnam war, both boys are sent on a tour of duty, and both come back home after being injured, ending up in Hospital. Al, after getting some pretty horrific facial injuries suddenly receives word that his friend Birdy is also in the hospital. But a mental hospital. After being missing in action for over a month, Birdy was found and sent home. Almost catatonic and never uttering a word, he is admitted to the mental hospital and confined in a stark, bare room, where he spends his time crouching, lying and sitting on the floor, just staring out of the window, and having to be fed by his nurse, Hannah (Karen Young; Daylight). Unable to reach him at all, eventually his doctor, Dr Weiss (John Harkins; Amityville 3-D), learns that Birdy's friend Al is back from Vietnam and sends for him. Once Al arrives at the hospital, he is told that despite numerous attempts, there's nothing that can be done with Birdy. A final ray of hope lies in Al possibly being able to finally reach him and pull him from his state of catatonia by visiting him. Through Al's visits, we learn of the early days. Al sits and talks to Birdy about when they were younger and the movie shifts back and forth to significant events in their friendship, and back to the present day.

Recalling the time Birdy made Al a pigeon suit, and they both went collecting Pigeons on the roof of a gas tank. Birdy slipped, Al caught his hands, but Birdy pleads with him to let go, he can "fly" to the ground. Al doesn't let go, but loses grip.. and Birdy falls flightless to the ground. Birdy got through that fairly injure free, but as punishment, his mother released all his pigeons and burned his aviary. Al is very accommodating of his friend's strange fascination with birds, but at the same time, he's also trying to introduce him to aspects of normal teenage life. After confessing to Al that he's never been to the ocean, Al takes him. Birdy has a wonderful time diving and swimming, Al asks him what he thinks; "It's like flying in thick air", he says. Al tries to get him interested in girls, but Birdy isn't very interested. After introducing Birdy to one particular girl, who according to Al, has "really big boobs", Birdy simply says; "Boobs are just overgrown mammary glands, like on a cow, only in a really stupid place".

As the movie flits back and forth through these funny and heartfelt moments between the friends, you get a real sense of their friendship, it's solid, and Al's determination and constant drive to reach his friend and pull him out his current state leads you to believe he really cares a great deal about Birdy.

Whilst we're allowed to share these moments gone by they've experienced together, we're also allowed a peak into the mind of Birdy. Who, as he sits in his hospital room alone, always starting towards the window, plays out in his head private moments of his life that he alone experienced. After his mother got rid of all his pigeons, Birdy went out and bought a canary, whom he named Perta. Some time later he gets a mate for her, named Alfonzo. Alfonzo and Perta breed, and Birdy is completely consumed by watching and taking care of his "family". Neglecting the outside world completely, and almost falling into a state of dreamlike consciousness, where he's unable to separate his dream of thinking he's a bird, with the reality that he isn't. This disturbing, yet moving scenario is tragically underlined by Birdy's own thoughts; "I wish I could die, and be born again a bird".

Al, tired of Birdy's refusal to entertain the outside world on any level, instead choosing to retreat into a bird shaped shell, finally has enough, and goes off to Vietnam. Birdy, devastated at his friend leaving, watches him leave, but tragedy ensues as little Perta flies through a small gap in the window, flies freely for a couple of minutes, but upon her return, flies straight into the glass and breaks her neck. Birdy is absolutely distraught.

As we're brought back to the present day, we see the seams starting to crack around Al. Who, until now has managed to be strong, but the frustration he begins to feel at not being able to reach his friend, coupled with flashbacks of how he sustained his injuries in Vietnam, all aid him on his own path to a breakdown of sorts. One final attempt before he has to leave, involves Birdy's mother, the baseball stealer. Al requests she send all the baseballs to the hospital, apparently, Birdy had spent a great deal of time when he was younger, looking for them and apologising to neighbourhood kids and swearing to get them back. She sends the baseballs, but it's still in vane. Not a stir from Birdy. Frustrated, and pressed for time, since Dr Weiss has told him he must leave, that nothing more can be done, Al holds on to Birdy, and gives a lengthy diatribe about how he's sorry for leaving him, and he'll never do it again. As he speaks, Birdy recalls his own time in the war. Being lost, injured and alone in the jungle, with only the cry of birds to keep him alive. We see scenes of bombs and bloodshed and screaming. Al is still ranting at how sorry he is, holding Birdy tightly on the hospital room floor.. then, as quickly as a switch being hit, Birdy looks at him, and says;

"Al? You're so full of sh*t."

But that's not the end, oh no. The ending is absolutely flawless, and I'll not reveal it, since it's something you need to experience visually.


Thoughts

This 1985 winner of the Special Jury Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival is superb. Not only does it convey the depth of one boy's obsession, and touches on the horrors of Vietnam veteran psychology, but it brilliantly demonstrates that which most of us strive to attain, a deep and committed friendship capable of surpassing even the most extreme circumstances. A friendship based on pure love and compassion, and a refusal to give up when the fear of losing that friendship starts to become a reality.

But what of the bird obsession? It's an obsession taken to the extreme, not content with simply caring for the object of his fascination, the protagonist here actually believes he is a part of it. His true obsession lies with flight, and birds happen to be something which naturally do that. But there's deeper psychology somewhere. His often lengthy narratives about flight and freedom lead you to believe that his true motives and longing to take to the sky are for freedom. To escape the mundane and poverty stricken life which he lives, to simply fly away from his problems. Something which many of us would no doubt like to do from time to time, but this boy's obvious discontentment with his lot in life, lends him to not mere flights of fancy, if you'll pardon yet another bad pun, but to a living dream far beyond the realms of possibility.

Matthew Modine is perfect in this role, he has a soft quality throughout, with a gentle nature, yet is capable of making you believe he is this character who cannot distinguish between dream and reality. Aided by the wonderful Nicholas Cage, who is equally brilliant in his role as the friend with a tough shell, but with a heart of gold, Matthew Modine possibly gave one of the best performances I've ever seen him do. Both Modine and Cage managed to wonderfully live up to the characters I'd built in my own mind, after reading the book.

The movie doesn't stray too much from the William Wharton's novel, but the book is far more intricate and detailed, which for the most part was conveyed rather well here. It concentrates heavily on the 2 central characters, with only fleeting appearances by the support cast, which was probably intentional, to keep the watcher's attention completely fixed on Birdy and Al's relationship, with little outside influence which may distract you, or inadvertently make you focus elsewhere. However, I must mention John Harkins, whose portrayal of Birdy's doctor, the rather obnoxious Dr Weiss is excellent, even though his appearances are brief. Whilst it's excellently directed by Alan parker, Michael Seresin's cinematography is undoubtedly a large part of what gives this movie its overall atmosphere. The several uses of bird shadows on blank walls, or birds in flight around moonlit windows, never let you forget the movie's main theme. Add a number of out of body first person flight scenes around the urban chaos of the poverty stricken town, all served on a bed of one of Peter Gabriel's finest movie scores, and you have not only a movie that's moving, deeply psychological, with a sense of humour in places, but a movie that's also very beautiful to watch. And also to listen to, incidentally, courtesy of the aforementioned Mr Gabriel's atmospheric low key yet effectively dramatic music.

It comes highly recommended, whether you've read the book or not, either way I'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed with this almost perfect piece of cinema, that sits precariously on the edge between embracing moving drama and psychologically dramatic fantasy. Lest we not forget it's deeper meaning, true friendship.

Cheers.

Support Cast

John Harkins - Doctor Major Weiss
Sandy Baron - Mr. Columbato
Karen Young - Hannah Rourke
Bruno Kirby - Renaldi
Nancy Fish - Mrs. Prevost
George Buck - Walt, Birdy's Father
Dolores Sage - Birdy's mother
Robert L. Ryan - Joe Sagessa


Overall: 5 Stars
Running time: 115 mins
Suitable for children aged 15 and over

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening