Engrossing and touching story of a murderer making the most of his life in prison and braving the system that tries to block his path to personal redemption. Also the kind of weird story that can only be inspired by true events. Burt Lancaster is great as Robert Stroud, a hot-tempered man with little education who finds sensitivity and purpose through caring for a hurt sparrow. Soon other prisoners want their own pets, and the cells are alive in birdsong. When the birds begin to fall ill, the inmates’ moods turn sour, and Stroud devotes himself to finding a cure. He eventually becomes the foremost expert on aviary diseases, publishing his findings in magazines and forming a remedies business with a fan of his writing, whom he also marries. The prison Governor (Karl Malden) butts heads with Stroud at every step, and eventually system-wide rules are put in place to prevent inmates from having animals or private businesses. (By the way, what kind of prisoner keeps a monkey as a pet? I want to see the movie about that guy.) Though I couldn’t completely buy into the idolizing of a double-murderer, the story is inspiring and uplifting. Scenes of cute birds doing tricks and hatching from an egg are truly adorable. The shots of fever-stricken canaries dropping from their perches like flies are somewhat less so. Birdman is about as strong a drama as you could ask for, and an interesting peek into a pivotal period of the American correctional system as well.

There are no comments yet. You could be the first!