Birdy is a 1984 film directed by Alan Parker and starring Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage. It is based on the novel of the same name by William Wharton. The story is about two friends, Birdy (Modine) and Al (Cage) who become friends at school and serve in Vietnam together. Birdy already has a disturbing fixation with birds and his Vietnam experiences push him over the edge: when he returns from the war, he is sent to a mental hospital for assessment and his friend Al stays with him to try to reach him. The films contains many flashback scenes of their life together as teenagers in 1960s America.
The film's soundtrack, Birdy, was written and performed by Peter Gabriel. The music is almost entirely adaptations of tracks on Gabriel's third and fourth albums.
The film received the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.
Two friends arrive back from Vietnam, scarred in different ways. One has physical injuries, the other has mental problems that make him yearn to be a bird, a subject he has always been fascinated with. Written by Murray Chapman
Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam war. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through ? Written by Colin Tinto
