Stars: Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron, Karen Young

Director: Alan Parker

Summary: Ths absorbing drama follows the friendship between two young men from their high school days to difficult experiences together in the Vietnam war. 'Birdy' makes a powerful statement regarding war.

In Alan Parker's adaptation of William Wharton's acclaimed novel, the title character is a Vietnam vet hospitalized for postwar trauma. Lying in a state of amentia, Birdy (Matthew Modine) fantasizes about birds in flight, an obsession that has haunted him since childhood. Now this fascination acts as a barrier to reality and the pain of his years in Vietnam. After doctors' efforts fail to cure him, his childhood friend Al (Nicolas Cage)--also a discharged soldier nursing wounds from the war--is brought in to try to coax Birdy out of his hallucinations.
BIRDY, told largely in stark, lyrical flashbacks from Al's point of view, is both a heartrending examination of the psychological consequences of war and an ode to the spiritually rejuvenating powers of friendship and imagination. The two young leads turn in powerful, humane performances. Parker (MIDNIGHT EXPRESS) provides innovative direction, most notably in the film's stunning, controversial ending.

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An IRA film with a difference, Neil Jordan's The Crying Gametakes the Anglo-Irish conflict as the starting point for a thoughtful, often poignant and sometimes humorous examination of gender and identity. Stephen Rea is the IRA volunteer who befriends a kidnapped British soldier (the gauche but likeable Forest Whitaker), then takes the questions of loyalty and instinct (the "frog and scorpion" fable) with him to London, where he falls for the dead man's girlfriend (the appealing Jaye Davidson). Love and terrorism are fused in a violent and suspenseful denouement, where truth manifests itself in an unexpected yet meaningful way.

Miranda Richardson and Adrian Dunbar are persuasive as the IRA agents, and there are excellent cameos from Jim Broadbent as an East End barman and Tony Slattery as a property shark, all making the most of Jordan's stylish, Academy Award-winning script. Anne (Art of Noise) Dudley contributes a moodily atmospheric score, with three versions of "When a Man Loves a Woman" to point up the gender issue.

On the DVD:The Crying Gamecomes to disc with a widescreen picture that reproduces adequately for an early 90s film. The soundtrack, though, has real presence. There are subtitles in English and Russian(!), though the theatrical trailer is hardly a major bonus. An interview or a commentary with Jordan, discussing the motivation behind the project, would really have benefited a film which cuts across genres so successfully as this. --Richard Whitehouse

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, Scene Selections, Theatrical Trailer, Filmographies
Subtitles:	Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1984
Release Date:	April 17, 2000
Runtime:	115 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 10630
Keywords:	Birdy, General, Wide, Screen, Drama
Genre:	Drama