‘There’s nothing in my life to keep me here anymore...’
For all the noise generated about Nicolas Cage (mostly by himself) it often gets forgotten that he was an actual, proper actor at one point. Indeed, an actor that (deservedly) won an actual, proper Oscar. Way before Leaving Las Vegas however, Cage starred in Birdy. A strange but moving little film about two buddies who go to war but come back irrevocably changed. Sure, there’s still some shouting and at one point he rants about women’s breasts for five minutes whilst walking on the beach, but he’s still Nic Cage after all…
Al (Cage) and Birdy (Matthew Modine) bond over the fact they are both a bit weird. Birdy is so called because of his obsession with all things avian, and Al is weird because… well… he’s a character being played by Nic Cage. Following a chance meeting in the neighbourhood, the two boys go off to war and the next time they meet, Birdy is mute and incapacitated and Al is battle scarred – both physically and emotionally.
From acclaimed director Alan Parker (Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning), Birdy is an offbeat, touching and profound movie that takes a pretty out there concept (boy thinks he is a bird) and turns it into something truly beautiful. For all my glib dismissiveness of Cage, he is very strong here, only occasionally succumbing to his own inner rage. Instead, he allows Modine to shine, and while you’d never know it from my intro, this is really his movie. His portrayal of Birdy is both heart-breaking and life affirming, a juxtaposition that is a testament to Modine’s versatility. He also works hard to compliment Cage, never allowing himself to be crowded out by his more charismatic co-star, but also carving out a space for his own reflective performance.
Birdy is a film in the tradition of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Awakenings, and driven by a stellar turn from Matthew Modine, it has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as the two aforementioned movies.