Birdy (1984): Cue “La Bamba” [Mike’s Review]
Today on Cage Club we explore the transformative power of friendship in the unconventional Vietnam War movie “Birdy”. It’s also about how a boy wants to be a bird more than anything else in the world and how the physical and mental limits of humans prevent him from a total transformation. Cage is front and center the whole film, sharing equal ( if not more ) screen time with Matthew Modine who plays the main character, Birdy. They are best friends caught up in the innocence of life only to be rendered unrecognizable to each other due to their experience “in the shit” of NAM. The movie is disjointed, cutting back and forth in time following two friends from Philly as they reunite in the Psych Ward of a vet Hospital, forced to face each other and what they’ve become. Their bond forged in friendship may be the only thing to help them rejoin the outside world and live again.
Cage plays Al Columbato, a local Italian heart throb and wrestling champ from Philly. When we meet Al as he is being wheeled through a hospital after getting his face reconstructed from being shelled in Saigon. Cage wears a bandage covering half his face for most of this movie which seems like something most actors would try to avoid. The face is an actors lively hood and very expressive, and Cage only gets to use half of it in this film. He doesn’t loose a step and really makes the bandages work, they even help you forget who’s underneath at times allowing the performance to shine on it’s own. He looks intense for the parts of the movie when he’s wearing bandages, like half a Mummy or Two Face or the obscure DC comic character “The Unknown Soldier”. It’s a great contrast to when we flashback pre-war and see Al using his looks to get the girls back in the day. Al is patched up and sent to see his friend Birdy who was M.I.A., but now resides in a Mental Ward due to shell shock. It’s up to Al to bring his friend back from the depths of his comatose state of regression so he isn’t just medicated and left to die. It’s a trying experience that brings to light Al’s own neuroses and dependency on Birdy that enables him to function in society.
Al and Birdy don’t seem like they would hang out but we see in the flashbacks all the great times they spent together. We are introduced to Birdy while he’s perched in a tree above the local baseball diamond where Nic cage is playing with his little brother and some local kids. Their friendship is forged thru a misunderstanding over some stolen knife but quickly blossoms after the altercation is resolved non-violently. Al helps Birdy catch and train carrier pigeons to maybe sell to local kids that won’t have text messaging for the next sixty odd years. Things go well for a while as Al and Birdy scale the dangerous overpass and the even more dangerous structure at the quarry just to find the choice pigeons. Birdy also made some custom human size pigeon costumes to wear so they could better get inside the avian mind. It doesn’t do much practical good when Birdy falls from a great hight and doesn’t soar into the air, but rather almost breaks his back. However this sequence does succeed in showing us Nic Cage dressed in a bird suit, a shocking image I never could have imagined existed. When the pigeon business goes tits up, they go halfsies on an old car that they easily restore from the dead which probably took months, but in movie time only takes about three minutes. They go for a joyride to Atlantic City where Al tries to score with some girls and Birdy decides to impersonate a fish for a while as a change of pace by holding his breath as long as possible several times. This doesn’t impress the ladies and they ditch the guys, but not before Al hooks up under the boardwalk in classic cage style. At this point in the movie Nic Cage has hooked up under the school bleachers and under the boardwalk, what a typical teenager! Al attempts to explain the mysteries of a woman and why it’s worth the time and effort but Birdy ain’t hearing that, he’s too into the mystery of birds to bother with Humans. Al even makes an impassioned speech about the necessity of the female breast only for it to fall upon deaf ears. Hey, birds don’t have boobs, so Birdy can’t be bothered. Birdy even built an aviary in his bedroom so he can sleep with his birds, ignoring everything that doesn’t pertain to them. He spends all day watching the chicks grow instead of chasing the other chicks with Al as he falls deeper into delusion.
Back at the Hospital, time is running out and Al is feeling pressure from the doctors to get a response out of Birdy. While doctors felt the interaction with Al would make Birdy snap out of his Fugue State of bird-mind it’s taking too long and starting to make Al crack as well. We feel the pressure as Al begins to have nightmares of battle and violent outbursts against the staff that bring into question his own sanity and well being, possibly preparing himself for a permanent stay at the Looney Bin too. Al feels like nobody else could understand Birdy the way he does and if he told the Doctors of their antics as kids it would confirm they are nuts.
One thing that may cause the Army Doctors to believe Birdy was always destined to be crazy is that time the boys spent a day at the dump. Birdy crafted a set of wings big enough for a person to wear that seems to be modeled off something Leonardo Da Vinci threw away. He perches atop the front of Al’s bicycle as he pedals as fast as possible across the dump and to the edge of garbage hill. Birdy launches himself off the bike and takes flight, soaring through the air in a whimsical spectacle that looks like a genuine success all to the tune of “La Bamba”. ( the movie uses the song La Bamba a lot to remind us what decade we’re in, it’s some of the only music that isn’t part of the composed score by Peter Gabriel ) Birdy is in flight but can’t see the dangerous lake of trash he’s aiming for when, SPLASH, he crashes in the garbage water. This is another in a series of life threatening situations that Birdy has used Al to execute. To a Shrink this information might suggest that Birdy has suicidal tendencies giving him extra cause to be locked away. The only thing I could think of watching this sequence is how they filmed at a real dump. Cage and Modine both dunk their heads in the filthy pool ! There is no way this would be allowed today, it would all be shot on a set with props and green screen background replacement. I truly admire these actors for risking their health to make this scene work and their trust of each other comes through on screen.
One of the most pivotal scenes in the film doesn’t include Nic Cage and it takes place after the Prom. While Al is out with his date, Birdy decides to cut the night short and return home to his Canaries. Upon getting home, Birdy proceeds to strip naked and crawl into the aviary with his winged roommates. From what I can gather, Birdy meditates in an attempt to get his consciousness to leave his body and fly around the world like a bird, free of earthly binds. It’s one of the more extreme instances in which we see Birdy’s split from reality. At this moment he is full on Birdman and cares about little else. He truly believes his visions are real and a metamorphosis is taking place. He speaks of being reborn and how being awake and asleep are the same thing, all very strange. It’s tough for Al to accept. I imagine Al always thought Birdy would eventually drop all this craziness and join the wrestling team like a normal kid, but he’s more committed now than ever. Then, just like that, they are drafted.
The boys are separated for the first time in a while as they get shipped off separately to Vietnam, possibly never to see each other again. Al’s departure coupled with the death of a Canary breaks Birdy even more. In the Mental Hospital it all seems to be sinking in and triggers Birdy’s flashback to Nam that made him lose his mind. We see Birdy doing what he always wanted to do, fly, except he’s in a helicopter with wounded soldiers and they are gonna crash. Birdy is the lone surviver and lands in a peaceful jungle surrounded by exotic birds. For a moment I thought he may get out this okay but then the napalm falls and torches everything around him, the mangled bodies of his squad, the beautiful native birds and his fragile mental psyche. It all goes up in flames. Birdy will be classified M.I.A. until they find him wandering the jungle unable to speak.
Ultimately, the time Al spends with Birdy at the nut house actually starts to pay off. Cage stalls and stalls believing the talking treatment has to work as it seems to be helping him deal with his own disfiguring experience. Cage becomes completely co-dependent on Birdy, believing he can’t function in the real world without a friend like him, someone he can tell anything to and not be judged in return. Now that Birdy has given up, Al believes he should too, especially if his friend isn’t gonna come back to him. In a last ditch effort to evoke a response from Birdy, Al lays it all on the line, exposing his fears of what the War transformed him into and how he struggles to recognize himself anymore. Al has reached his breaking point having had a one sided conversation with Birdy for days until finally… Birdy snaps out of it ! ( kinda ) Birdy won’t address the Doctor but he has no problem calling Al on his bullshit excuse for locking himself up too. Birdy seems kinda, sorta, cured or at least on the road to recovery and Al is hysterical so they execute an impromptu escape plan. They beat some orderlies and head for the roof where Birdy jumps ! Al rushes towards the edge of the roof only to see Birdy is perfectly fine having landed on a lower roof directly underneath them. The End. Cue “La Bamba”. I guess the movie said everything it needed to say. The abrupt ending is funny and hopeful, but no doubt unexpected as can be. I am glad they went out on this note because it somehow sums up everything perfectly after such a drama heavy third act.
I haven’t seen many films about the effects of war and the rehabilitation needed to function again in society. Most Vietnam films I am aware of tend to be about the time fighting the war, focusing on training or battle or the mission. Birdy caught me off guard with it’s structure and form. The use of flashbacks as memories helps to idealize the past making it a powerful tool for trying to reach Birdy in his present deteriorated state. When we get to the battle scenes they are short and gruesome, making no apologizes and doing everything but glorifying War. The friendship is genuine and rewarding earnig several tender and funny moments that never felt out of place with the overall tone. I would recommend this movie to see Cage deliver some intense drama with half his face covered in bandages as well as Matthew Modine’s respectful portrayal of mental illness. I like to believe Al and Birdy get a clean bill of health and are sent off to start a Pet Store together after the credits start to roll. However, it’s more likely they were caught and given shock treatment then locked in padded cells on opposite sides of the ward.
Next up on Cage Club we travel back in time to the 1880’s and journey to the Great White North where Cage portrays real life professional sculler, Ned Hanlan in “The Boy in Blue”. It’s yet another period piece next time on Cage Club!
Mike
@the_mikestir
