Trama

After two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.

Philly boys Al and Birdy became friends in high school despite the extreme difference in their personalities, Al being the popular and athletic extrovert, Birdy the antisocial "weird" introvert. Al gave Birdy his nickname because of his fascination - obsession really - with birds, especially with flight. Al and Birdy have just completed their service of duty in the Vietnam War and have returned to the States. Al sustained some serious physical injuries, which required major reconstructive surgery to his face. Birdy, however, returned from Vietnam seemingly emotionally scarred. He was missing in action for one month. He has not spoken since he was found. Despite his own medical issues, Al travels to the institution where Birdy is being kept to see if he can assist in getting Birdy out of his near comatose state. Having always had issues with authority, Al is less than forthright with the doctors about Birdy's mental state prior to the war. As Al tries whatever he can to help Birdy using tools from their shared history prior to the war, he deals with his own post-war mental state.—Huggo

A young man nicknamed Birdy (Matthew Modine) is sitting on the floor of his barren psychiatric hospital room. He seems in an almost comatose state.

In another hospital, conscious U.S. Army Sergeant Alfonso 'Al' Columbato (Nicolas Cage), with his face heavily bandaged, is being wheeled on a stretcher to his dormitory styled room, where the orderlies transfer him to his bed. Later, the doctor is examining him, they talking about Al's facial injuries, when the bandages are going to be removed, and the likelihood of success of the completed reconstructive surgery. Apparently Al is leaving the hospital soon.

Al is on a train, trying to find a place to sit down. He places his bag on the overhead rack and sits opposite a woman and her adolescent daughter. The girl can't help but stare at the heavily face-bandaged Al, who in turn notices her looking and feels her discomfort. To break the ice, Al says "boo" to her, and she smiles knowingly. Her mother matter-of-factly tells her not to stare. Al begins to think about his friend Birdy, who most have always thought weird.

[Flashback to their high school days in South Philadelphia] In a large field sandwiched within a residential neighborhood, Al is playing in a pick-up game of softball. When he's up at bat, he hits a fly ball into the backyard of a house. He swears when he sees where it landed. The woman in the backyard picks up the ball. The kids know that the woman won't give them the ball back, she who doesn't and tells them to go play somewhere else. That woman is Birdy's mother (Dolores Sage), who has kept balls from them before. Birdy's father (George Buck), who is also working in the backyard, tells his wife to return the ball, she who refuses and walks away with ball in hand. Without another ball, the kids are forced to stop playing and they disperse. As Al begins to walk away, he sees Birdy sitting in a tree, he who looks back. They say nothing to each other.

Al is making out with a girl under some bleachers. As he tries to take her clothes off, she resists, while they still kiss. Al's younger brother Mario Columbato (James Santini) comes by looking for Al. As Al tells Mario to get lost, Mario tells him that "the weird kid" is just down the street. Swearing about having to stop making out, Al goes with Mario. They end up at Birdy's house, Birdy who is sitting on the stoop of the front porch working on something with cooing pigeons in a cage next to him. Al calls him bird boy. Birdy says nothing. Al asks him if he has a knife to remove a splinter from his hand. Birdy hands over a pocket knife. Al tells Birdy the knife belongs to Mario. Birdy grabs the knife back and runs away as Al chases him. As they struggle, Birdy manages to elude Al while grabbing his cage. During the scuffle, Al learns that Birdy didn't steal the knife but got it from whoever did steal it. Al is incensed with Mario for not telling him that fact. Al lets Birdy keep the knife. Not knowing its true origins, Birdy offers the knife back to Mario. Al grabs it and hands it back to Birdy. Al tells Mario that he'll get him another knife. The athletic Al is interested in Birdy's natural wrestling ability, which he noticed during the scuffle. Birdy in turns asks if Al is interested in pigeons. Birdy's fascination with them is partly because of their ability to fly. Al becomes interested when Birdy tells him he's training them to become carrier pigeons. As Birdy walks away down the street, Al chases after him offering to help Birdy catch some pigeons. They end up at a railway overpass where some pigeons are taking off and landing. Birdy relates to Al the routinized behavior of the birds. The two boys climb up onto the frame support of the overpass, precariously over the busy traffic below. Al is nervous, but Birdy seems within his element. Birdy easily catches one of the pigeons just before a train rolls by which scares the remaining birds off to flight.

Birdy and Al are shown in short succession catching more pigeons, transporting those birds in cages on their bicycles, and building a large wooden aviary. Al takes one of the birds and throws it up in the air. The pigeon flies back to the aviary. The boys are excited that the pigeon goes where they want it. Later, they release a flock of pigeons from a faraway dock. The pigeons fly back to their "home" in the aviary.

Al goes to the aviary to do some work. As he goes about his work with the pigeons, he yells out for Birdy, knowing that Birdy is somewhere in the aviary. Birdy emerges covered in feathers. He is wearing a pigeon suit he made so that the pigeons will think he's one of them. Birdy wants Al to try the suit. Al doesn't want to, he who is scared to look stupid wearing a bird suit. Later that evening, Al, wearing the suit and feeling embarrassed, and Birdy, wearing another suit, are at a secured gas well site climbing to the top of the tower. Against Al's wishes, Birdy is hanging over the side collecting pigeons while Al holds his legs. Al slips, letting go of Birdy's legs. Birdy falls over the side, but manages to grab hold of the side of the tower instead of falling to the ground. A scared Al tries to get a hold of Birdy, who seems nonplussed at his predicament. Birdy sees a sand-pile below and tells Al he's going to fly down. As Al screams for Birdy not to do it, Birdy lets go. Al runs down the stairs to the sand-pile where he finds a slightly dazed Birdy, who says that he flew and it was beautiful. Al, still scared as he's unaware if Birdy is injured, hugs his friend as a police car approaches.

[Forward to present day] At the hospital, Birdy is staring into space, while Al looks at him through the window in the door. Major Weiss (John Harkins), Birdy's doctor, asks for Al's assessment of Birdy. Al doesn't think he looks good and asks in return if that is all Birdy does i.e. stare into space. The doctor replies affirmatively, stating that he suffered minor physical injuries but that his main problem is something psychological. All they know is that Birdy was MIA for a month in Vietnam and when found they didn't know who he was for a while. Birdy has not spoken since he was found. Al learns that Birdy's mother was the one who suggested to the doctor to bring him here. The major hopes the visit will do both Al and Birdy some good. The major takes Al back to his office to show him photos of Birdy taken while at the hospital - they are all of Birdy in crouched positions, generally of him nude. After questioning, Al tells him that they are close and crazy friends but not queer. They talk about Al's own injuries, the casualties of the war but the fact that the military takes care of its own. The major suggests that Al go and visit with Birdy now. Renaldi (Bruno Kirby) is to be his guide.

Renaldi, an orderly who does almost everything needed for the patients, takes Al to see other patients doing some physical therapy of manual hand dexterity. Renaldi ended up doing this work as a conscientious objector. As Renaldi unlocks Birdy's door, Birdy, startled and crouched on the floor, turns around. Al enters and makes some wisecracks. Birdy registers no acknowledgment. Al continues speaking about life back in South Philadelphia when they were kids, about his own injuries, and the war. Al ultimately asks him point blank what happened to him. As Al approaches, Birdy turns away. A civilian nurse named Hannah Rourke (Karen Young) enters, surprised to see Al there. As Al tells her who he is, she now remembers hearing stories of his arrival. She is the only one who Birdy will allow feed him, although this time he is not cooperating. As Hannah lets Al out of the room, Birdy turns his head to look skyward toward the window.

[Flashback to their high school years] Birdy is on an examining table in the hospital, being checked for physical injuries while Al, off in the distance still wearing the pigeon suit, looks on. He tells another waiting patient that Birdy has a broken leg and perhaps a broken back, the latter which he hopes isn't the case as that can make one crazy, although Birdy is a bit crazy already.

Birdy's parents are dismantling the aviary and burning the wood, while Al, reading in the newspaper of Birdy's fall, looks on, he who is more interested in the story. The pigeons that were in the aviary fly away.

Al talks to a recovered Birdy about that being the end of their bird adventures, while Birdy is convinced that the pigeons will still return despite his mother having destroyed the actual structure of the aviary. Al admits that the birds did come back, but Birdy's mother poisoned some, and the others she got the local butcher to come take away for food. Birdy concedes to Al's wishes of going into a different venture together.

[Forward to present day] Birdy is lying on his hospital room floor in a crucifixion position. Al, elsewhere in the hospital, is smoking and contemplating life.

Later, Birdy is crouched on the floor next to the toilet, naked, staring upward. Birdy is remembering a story told by Al of a statue atop city hall that looks like it has an erection. Birdy grins slightly.

[Flashback to high school years] Birdy is naked sitting on the floor of a large cage, feeling what it's like to be a caged pigeon.

[Forward to present day] Birdy is still crouched in his hospital room. Shadows of birds can been seen through the window. Still, Birdy registers no acknowledgment.

[Flashback to high school years] Al and Birdy are looking at a car in a junk yard, the car which they end up buying. With Al behind the steering wheel, Birdy pushes the car off the yard.

As Al and Birdy work on the car, Mr. Columbato (Sandy Baron) arrives home, telling the boys the car is a piece of shit. Al curses his father under his breath.

Al, behind the wheel, nervously turns the key in the ignition while Birdy, in the passenger seat, looks on. After a few sputtered attempts, the ignition rolls for a split second, to which Al and Birdy hug each other excitedly. They mockingly pretend they are off on a drive, Al speaking of driving to the ocean, to which Birdy replies that he's never been.

Birdy is jumping out of the ocean waves in Atlantic City. Birdy likens the experience to flying in thick air. As Birdy dives under the water again, Al curses as he wants to party on the boardwalk instead. After several seconds, Birdy does not surface. A worried Al yells for Birdy, but can't do anything about it as Al doesn't know how to swim.

Al, Birdy and their dates Shirley (Sandra Beall) and Rosanne (Elizabeth Whitcraft) are on a miniature roller coaster. Birdy is half standing up, flapping his arms like a bird.

As they wander around the amusement park, Al is interested in the girls while Birdy sees them more as a distraction. They stop at the underwater merman, Birdy who wonders how he can hold his breath so long. Later, Al and Shirley are noisily having sex in the grass, while Birdy and Rosanne, nearby, make small talk. After a few seconds, Rosanne can no longer stand being with the "weird" Birdy and yanks Shirley away from the sex to head off. Birdy is nonplussed, while Al is angry.

At the beach the next day, Birdy is flapping his arms like a bird jumping around, while Al yells to him that he has to learn to get along with girls in a normal way, which means no bird talk. They argue about the female form, Birdy seeing women's breasts as no more than enlarged mammary glands, whereas Al sees beauty. A policeman approaches them, asking if the 1953 Ford is their car. At the police station, Al and Birdy are behind bars waiting for Al's parents to show up. Birdy is pacing while Al is calm. The Columbatos arrive to pick up the boys. As Al gets to the car, Mr. Columbato slaps him hard across the face. Al winces and starts to cry. Birdy asks what birds looking down must think of their lives. Mr. Columbato is angry at the banter, at the boys and the fact that the car engine won't start. The four are then seen from a bird's eye view.

[Forward to present day] Al is let into Birdy's hospital room, the door locked behind him. Birdy is crouched on the floor and Al sits across from him. Al starts having a conversation with himself, speaking both his and Birdy's parts. He stops the dialogue and yells at Birdy to talk to him. Al tells Birdy he knows he's finally a bird and that it's no big deal, except that he will be used as a medical case history forever. Birdy turns his head and looks out the window. It's a heavily overcast day with a glint of sunshine filtering through the clouds.

[Flashback to high school years] It's a rainy day and Birdy is headed to see Mrs. Prevost (Nancy Fish) who sells birds out of her house. Birds are flying everywhere in the room. Birdy takes a liking to a yellow canary which he buys. He names her Birda.

Al and Birdy are moving what looks to be a large pair of wings. They're discussing the fact that Mr. Columbato sold their car, which Birdy wants. Al tries to dissuade him from talking to Mr. Columbato as Al knows his father will beat Birdy if he makes a fuss about the car. Birdy confronts Mr. Columbato about the issue. They argue long and hard about it. Mr. Columbato, at the end of his rope, at least offers the money back to Birdy. That's not the point to Birdy, but Mrs. Columbato makes Birdy take the money. A dejected Birdy takes the money, walks away and gives the entire wad of cash to Al as Birdy doesn't want the money, just the car.

[Forward to present day] Al is admiring the fact that Birdy stood up to Mr. Columbato, something Al himself could never do. Al, confused about their current life, gets up to leave but not before giving Birdy a caress on the cheek. There is no reaction from Birdy. With the door locked, Al pounds on the door and yells for Renaldi to unlock it. As Renaldi rushes to unlock the door for Al, Birdy registers some fear from the knocking. Al yells out for Birdy as he reminisces about being in the jungle in Vietnam.

Al wakens from a nightmare. He is in the hospital and Renaldi rushes over to him. Al is almost out of breath, but Renaldi sees it is a panic attack and nothing physically wrong.

Major Weiss' secretary is taking some information from Al regarding Al himself for the major. The secretary is constantly spitting. Al is confused about why they need his personal medical history. Although the officer has not yet collected all the information, Weiss calls Al into his office with the secretary bringing in Al's file. Al's first question is about the secretary's spitting. Weiss replies that he has been that way since combat, which left a bad taste in his mouth. Al learns that Weiss wants his information as he wants to know who he's dealing with. Weiss reads about some insubordination on Al's part while in Vietnam, specifically a physical attack on a senior officer. Al gets the topic back to Birdy. They talk about the car, and the fact that Al's father reported it stolen when the boys drove it to Atlantic City. Weiss yells at Al for his wisecrack remarks. Weiss tells him that wise-crackers like him and Birdy usually end up institutionalized forever, but Al is certain that with time he can get through to his friend. Before Al leaves the room, he lies to the Major about his feelings toward his father in general and about the incident with the car.

As Hannah caresses Birdy's face, Al tries to feed him. Birdy starts to eat. Hannah has to leave and asks Al to finish feeding Birdy. After Hannah leaves, Al tells Birdy that he thinks she likes him. Al then tells him to stop the act as it's making him crazy and might risk his life being institutionalized forever. Birdy stops eating but starts staring at Al. He's not sure if it is recognition or not.

[Flashback to high school years] Birdy is lying in bed, playing with a mechanical bird he made. Birda flies onto his arm. After playing with her, he places her in the aviary he's built under his bed. Birdy's father comes into his room and tells him to go to sleep at it's 3 o'clock in the morning. Birdy's mom yells the same off from the distance. Birdy's father turns off the light and closes the door. Birda chirps.

In class, Birdy is giving a verbal presentation on birds using his mechanical bird as a demonstration. The class is most enthralled with aspects of flying as they watch the mechanical bird fly around the room. Laughter erupts when the bird hits the window and crashes. As Birdy picks up the bird, one girl, Doris Robinson (Maude Winchester) gives Birdy a loving look which he notices. Later, Al mentions Doris' look to Birdy. Birdy doesn't seem interested in pursuing anything with Doris.

Birdy heads to the school's basement to talk to his father who works there as a janitor. Birdy wants him to talk to his mother about letting him have a male canary to mate with Birda. Birdy's dad isn't so sure it's a good idea. He feels Birdy's mom thinks that canaries and Al as a friend won't get him far in life. He likens it to his own growing up situation, Birdy's dad's passion which was building things out of wicker. Birdy's dad and mom want to get him interested in something practical. But Birdy really wants this second canary, so Birdy's dad gives in to the idea of at least broaching the issue with his mom.

Back in Birdy's bedroom, there are two canaries flying around, Birda in the general aviary, the male in a cage in the aviary. This will allow the two to get familiar with each other without having physical interaction until they are comfortable with each other. Al enters the room and notices the second bird. Birdy has named it Alfonso as it likes to fight and show off. Both Al and Birdy are enthralled watching the two. When Birdy starts making canary noises, Al looks at him like he's crazy.

Al and Birdy are in Birdy's back yard lifting weights. Birdy is face down flapping his arms and legs mimicking flying. Birdy's mom tells them they're crazy. Al's retort is that she's crazy for hiding their baseballs. They surmise she's buried them somewhere. An alarm goes off. They've been weightlifting for an hour. Birdy admits he's doing this weightlifting so that he can fly.

Al and Birdy are at the garbage dump. Birdy is saving a gull from a rat snake. As Birdy picks up the bird to let it fly away, he gets a stick to stab the snake to death. Al wants them to get on with their task as it smells there, but Birdy is in no hurry as he paces off a distance. Al is on Birdy's bike, while Birdy, who has just put on his home made wings, sits on the bike's handlebars. Birdy is certain this venture will work. Al starts pedaling as fast as he can. Birdy starts flapping his wings. Just before the drop-off, Al stops which propels Birdy into the air. Birdy takes flight for a fraction of a second before he starts to plummet to the ground. He lands in a cesspool below. Al rushes down to him as the weight of the wings is submerging Birdy under the shallow water. Birdy, not knowing what went wrong, is otherwise OK.

[Forward to present day] Al is back in Birdy's hospital room. Al makes a joke about their relationship. Birdy smiles, which Al notices. Later Al tells Weiss about the smile. Weiss believes the smile is dissociative to the joke. Weiss, frustrated with Al, says that Birdy is more responsive to drug treatment than to him. Al yells back that the drugs are making Birdy not who he is. Weiss, Al's superior officer, won't tolerate Al's insubordination like he is aware Al is apt to be as he read through in his file. Al apologizes if only to be able to help Birdy. Weiss suggests that Al is no longer needed and that he should return to Fort Dix. As Weiss walks off, Al suggests one other thing from the past that may twig some memory in Birdy: the missing baseballs. He wants the army to ask Birdy's mom to send the baseballs. Weiss agrees to extend Al's visit until he can check about the baseballs.

Al enters a gymnasium in the hospital where a wheelchair bound patient is dribbling and shooting hoops. Al claps in appreciation. The patient asks Al to join in. Al declines to go lift weights instead. He watches another legless man climbing rope. Al reminisces about how the war has been so different than they imagined it would be, and how immature they have been. As he continues his reminiscences, he goes to see that Hannah is giving Birdy a bath.

[Flashback to high school years] Al and Birdy are in a truck with Joe Sagessa (Robert L. Ryan) who catches stray dogs and sells them. The guys want in on the business to make money. They spot a dog. They stop and get their equipment to catch the dog, Joe with a large hoop net, the boys with a large loose net. As they approach the dog, they see a herd of other dogs off in the distance. They all smell a war. As Joe tries to catch the original dog, it runs off, the other dogs fast on their tail. The guys get back into the truck to chase after the entire herd. They believe they have the dogs cornered against a chain link fence. They manage to catch most of the dogs and put them in the cage in the back of the truck. They drive off with the dogs, Joe telling them that he will deal with the dogs' disposal. Then a car approaches them from the side. The angry driver yells that his dog is in the back of Joe's truck. The angry driver tries to side swipe the truck. As the chase continues, Joe won't stop as he says they're almost at their destination: an abattoir, where the animals are electrocuted. The angry driver gets there just after the guys, the angry driver clamoring to get his dog back. Birdy attacks Joe and yells to Al to let the dogs go. Al unlocks the cage as the dogs run out. The angry driver is able to get his dog and he drives off. Al and Birdy run off away from an angry Joe.

[Forward to present day] Hannah is still giving Birdy his bath. Al watches through the door window. Birdy is remembering back to a time in his past when a cat was approaching. He starts to thrash around in the bathtub scared. Hannah does not know why Birdy is in this scared state.

[Flashback to high school years] Birdy is in his kitchen, washing a picture frame in the sink. He sees that specific cat outside, not really paying it much attention. Unknown to him, the cat makes it into the house and up into his bedroom. Finished his task in the kitchen, Birdy heads up to his room, but not before his mother complains about the birds attracting lice. In his room, he sees the cat with Birda in its mouth. Birdy lunges at the cat and tries to pry its mouth open. An angry Birdy manages to do so and grab the injured Birda as the cat runs off. Birdy has Birda cupped in his hands, caressing it. She isn't moving. All of a sudden, she begins to move, gets up and flies off. An excited Birdy watches her fly around the room.

[Forward to present day] Birdy is staring out the window. Al, in the room, tells his friend that he won't give up on him. He admits he almost told Weiss about Birdy's flying. Al grabs Birdy off the floor, violently pushes him up against the wall, and yells at him to snap out of his condition. Al throws him back down on the floor and tells him to at least be consistent: he may try to act like a bird, but everything he is now doing is not bird-like. Hannah enters with a tray of food. Al continues to taunt Birdy, who is obviously reacting. Hannah yells at Al to stop, cradling a scared Birdy in her arms, but Al knows that he's tapped into something in Birdy's psyche. Al yells at Hannah about her inopportune entrance as he storms out of the room. Hannah follows Al into another private room and she sympathetically apologizes to him about the argument that just occurred. Al begins to feel her breasts and they start to kiss. Al quickly stops what he's doing, thinking more about how they can help Birdy than about the tenderness of the current situation. Al walks off leaving an emotional Hannah behind. Al goes into the bathroom, turns on the light and stares in the mirror. He begins to examine underneath the bandages on his face.

It's dusk and Birdy, in his room, is naked, perched on the bed's foot-board like a bird.

[Flashback to high school years] Birdy is staring at one of the canaries in its cage.

It's nighttime, and a large shadow of a flapping bird is on the side of the building. Birdy, in over voice, is telling of his dream, where he and Birda become one. Birdy suddenly awakens from his dream. He looks down and realizes he's had a wet dream. He grabs a towel and wipes himself off.

Birdy is examining the eggs Birda has laid as one begins to hatch. He realizes that what is happening is nature at work, but he is still amazed at the magic occurring before him, when all he did was put two birds together and feed them. He now has four canaries. All he now cares about is what is happening in his room in the aviary.

Scenes cut between present day, with Birdy still perched like a bird on the foot-board of his hospital room bed, and his high school days, specifically focusing on the baby canaries. Birdy, in voice over, tells how the babies seem to know their place in the world.

[Flashback to high school years] The phone is ringing. Birdy's mom enters his room, where Birdy, in only his briefs, is sitting on a chair, staring off into space. It's Doris on the phone, wanting to go to the prom with Birdy. Birdy's mom swears she'll kill him if he doesn't go with Doris rather than waste his time alone in his room as usual. She tells him to get rid of the birds as she leaves the room.

At the prom, Birdy and Doris are slow dancing. Birdy seems to be in another world which a confused Doris notices. Al, dancing next to them, mimics for Birdy to take some romantic actions with Doris. Cutting to a fast song, they are still dancing. Birdy sees his father off in the distance. Birdy leaves to look for his father and leaves a confused and slightly embarrassed Doris to dance by herself. Birdy finds his father in one of the school's hallways, he who is mopping the floor. Birdy's father gives him a little money to take "his pretty girl" out somewhere after the dance. As Birdy's father heads off, Birdy tells him matter-of-factly that she's not his girl.

Doris drives Birdy into a packed but quiet parking lot. She turns off the motor and sidles closer to Birdy. She thanks him for the wrist corsage, which she will keep as a memento. As she extends her hand out, Birdy removes the corsage. She also thanks him for taking her to the prom, which she knows he didn't want to do, but as a thank you, he can now have what he wants. She begins to remove the bodice of her dress, exposing her bare breasts. Birdy feels one of the breasts, more like it's a ball than part of a woman he wants to make love to. He stops. She again feels embarrassed, and pulls her dress back on, apologizing. They look into another car and see a couple making out. They wonder how they do it. As they are about to drive off, Doris makes it clear she wants to go out on another date. Birdy says he'll see her in school, not quite realizing that is not what she was asking.

Birdy enters his bedroom. After he closes the door behind him, he begins to slowly disrobe. Totally naked, Birdy enters the aviary and crouches on the floor as he watches the canaries. He eventually lies down and one of the birds lands on his shoulder. He slowly grabs Birda in his hands, and brings it to his mouth as he begins to gently kiss her. In a semi-conscious state, he starts dreaming that there are several birds around him. He wants to tell Al of his dreams but is afraid to. There is nothing left in the real world to keep him alive. He wants to die and be born again as a bird. Still in an unconscious but excited state, he imagines himself flying around his room, then throughout the house, then around outside in the neighborhood, finally hovering over the make-shift baseball diamond.

[Forward to present day] Al brings Birdy a tray of food. As Al tries to feed him, Birdy does not respond. Al apologizes for his behavior from before. Al leaves the tray of food next to Birdy, but before he leaves, he tells Birdy that he has to come back to reality.

[Flashback to Vietnam] As a helicopter flies overhead, Al and another soldier are in a swampy area below. The other soldier, screaming, is badly wounded. Al yells into the distance that the soldier has been hit as more soldiers run toward them. As they approach, a bomb explodes. Screaming, Al grabs his bloodied face in agony.

[Forward to present day] Al, crying, goes back to Birdy's room and stares at him through the door window. Al sits on the floor outside the door in a bad state.

[Flashback to Vietnam] The helicopter lands. Several wounded soldiers, including Al, are helped onto the helicopter.

[Forward to present day] Al, asleep, is lying on the floor outside of Birdy's room. Renaldi comes by with a suitcase. Al asks what it is. Renaldi replies that he doesn't know but that it came from Birdy's mother. An excited Al brings the suitcase into Birdy's room. He thinks the baseballs will get a reaction from Birdy. As Al opens the suitcase, the baseballs roll all over the floor. Birdy, lying on the floor, has no reaction. A disappointed Al starts to kick the balls in frustration, knowing that his own mental state is tenuous and if Weiss really knew what was going on in his head, he too would be institutionalized. He tells Birdy that he is more scared now than he was in the war, where he was more scared than anyone he knew there. Al sits down among the balls in frustration.

[Flashback to high school years] Al enters Birdy's bedroom looking for him. He sees Birdy naked on the floor of the aviary. Al believes that Birdy's undressed state has something to do with having a good time with Doris. As Birdy starts to get dressed, Al asks for details about Doris. Instead, Birdy tells Al about his experience with flying last night, not like a bird, but as a bird. Angry, Al tells Birdy to stop these stupid fantasies as he storms out of the room.

[Forward to present day] Still amidst the baseballs, Al apologizes to Birdy for saying those things about Birdy's flying and storming out. Weiss enters. Al gets up, takes Weiss outside the room and tells him the baseballs are working but that he needs a little more time. Weiss disagrees as Birdy is deteriorating. Al's time is up.

[Flashback to high school years] Birdy is in his bedroom looking out the window to Al who is wearing an army uniform and carrying a duffel bag as he walks away. One of the canaries crawls under the open crack of the window and flies outside. Birdy yells for it to come back as it flies around outside. Birdy is madly trying to pry the window fully open without success. As Birdy continues trying to get the window open, the canary comes back and smashes into the closed window as Birdy screams. Birdy grabs the bird from the windowsill and caresses it in his hands. Its neck appears to be broken. Birdy weeps.

Al is running down to street and boards a bus as it takes off.

Birdy is in a fetal position on the floor of his bedroom. He is still in tears.

[Flashback to Vietnam] A helicopter is flying over the jungle. Aboard are several soldiers, including an injured one screaming in pain. Birdy is aboard. The helicopter crashes. In the aftermath, there seems to be few if any survivors except an injured Birdy, who is sitting, leaning against a fallen tree. He sees a tropical bird and points up at it. A flock of birds fly overhead. There is a sound of a jet. A bomb is dropped within close vicinity. Much of the jungle goes up in flames. Although not directly in the flames, Birdy screams in a panic. He continues screaming as more birds fly overhead. There are several dead soldiers in the immediate area.

[Forward to present day] Birdy is on the floor of his room crying. Al walks over to him, holds his head and tells him it's OK.

Hannah enters the room. She is there as Weiss asked for Al as he should now leave the institution for good. Al is on the floor, with Birdy in his arms. Al refuses to leave until Birdy is OK. After Hannah leaves to tell Weiss, Al confesses to Birdy that they are both in a bad mental state and that life has got the better of them. Al wanted to do whatever he wanted to do in life, but that the authorities in charge will now dictate what happens to them. Al remembers back to when he was injured and the different feelings he had in being able to smell his burning flesh and not being able to do anything about it. He is scared that he won't recognize himself once the bandages are removed, and in not recognizing himself if he has lost his sense of who he is. He believes he may now be what the army wants him to be. As Al now wants to hide underneath the bandages forever, he understands that what Birdy is now doing is his own form of hiding from the world. Birdy then says, "Al, sometimes you're so full of shit." An excited Al realizes that Birdy said something and that the words he heard were not his imagination. After Al asking him why, Birdy says him talking now was not a conscious decision, but something that just happened. Weiss enters and wonders what is going on. Al tells him that Birdy spoke, this being the first time that Al has used the nickname "Birdy" in front of Weiss. Weiss doesn't believe it as Birdy looks the same, not uttering a word. When Weiss tries to get Al to leave, Al grabs him and pushes him against the wall. After Al lets go of him, Weiss runs out of the room. Al asks Birdy why he didn't say anything to Weiss, Birdy's response being that he had nothing to say to him. Two orderlies rush in trying to subdue Al. He manages to beat up both. Al grabs Birdy as the two run out of the room. With the orderlies on their tail, Al and Birdy head up the stairs toward the roof. As Al barricades the door of the roof behind them, Birdy runs toward the edge of the roof. Birdy raises his arms and jumps off the side of the roof like he is about ready to fly. Al yells for Birdy to stop. Al, stopping the barricading, runs over to the edge from where Birdy jumped. He looks down, expecting to see Birdy dead on the ground below. Instead, Birdy is on another level of the roof, only a few feet down, perfectly fine. Birdy looks up at Al and asks quizzically of Al, "What?"