Birdy is a child who dreamed of flying since he was a child. He likes birds and watches them fly. He even fantasized that he was one of them. He often sleeps naked in a big cage and dreams of flying in the most natural state. He used tools to study how to fly, made himself a pair of big wings and did experiments with great interest. Until the Vietnam War broke out, Birdy was recruited into the army. The death of people and birds devastated his spirit and he was taken to the hospital. From then on, he stopped talking, curled up and stared at the blue sky every day, imagining himself as a bird, until his good friend Al (Nicolas Cage) appeared with their memories. ...
As a matter of fact, maybe everyone, like Birdy, has dreams and flying since childhood, but most people are not as obsessed as him. It is impossible to evaluate Birdy's choice. He has deviated from this society, alienated from family and love, and knows nothing about this world and is not understood. On the other hand, he got infinite happiness from his self-enclosed fantasy. What if others don't understand? I only live in my own world. ...
Ideal or life? Everyone has his own choice, as long as he is satisfied. The person who chooses one need not laugh at the person who makes the other choice. Everyone has his own fun and rules of the game.
By the way, the film condemned the great damage caused by the war. Countless young people who should have lived a happy life were ruined in the war, or came back with great trauma, unable to continue their original lives. Most cruelly, it destroyed the spiritual home of a generation. So is Birdy, and so is Al.
But the scene that shocked me the most was not the soldiers struggling in the blood-stained soil, but the scene where Birdy's favorite little golden finch tried to fly back to his master, but crashed into the glass and died. The joy and simplicity of not knowing that danger is just around the corner are frightening, and I also vaguely feel that Birdy's fate after that is worrying.
Fortunately, the ending was not as desperate as I expected. With Al's help, Birdy escaped from the hospital and jumped off a high platform. I thought that with Al's heartbreaking cry, Birdy would lie on the floor smiling and dying in a pool of blood, but I was surprised to see him looking back at his friend's bright smile. So far, we don't know what their future will be, whether they escaped or were caught back. They still lived happily in their own small world all their lives. Perhaps even the original author doesn't know what fate he will have if he chooses an ideal beyond reality.
In fact, the film is not so heavy. Matthew modine, who plays Birdy, always smiles brightly and simply. The youthful Cage's high spirits and youthful frivolity make people feel the sunshine. As Al said in the film, they are typical crazy children in Philadelphia. They are just thinking about what they like and growing up step by step.
I hope most children don't grow up as hard as they do. ...