Review of The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) by Edin S — 02 Feb 2013

With shadings of the HAIR and CATCH-22, The Men Who Stare At Goats is a mildly humorous study of superficial attitudes. The story is a parody of the military and a satire of pseudo-science. In the case at hand, the pseudo science consists of a combination of psychic phenomenon, hippie values and 1970's EST training (ala SEMI-TOUGH), mysticism, and New Age rainbows-and-unicorns philosophy. These shaky paradigms are satirized by putting them to their most unpractical application: fighting wars.

In the story, journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) falls into company with whole earth, cloak and dagger military agent Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who tells him about the military's research into psychic phenomenon, various forms of Zen, and the creation of a battalion of holistic soldiers. Together the pair go to Iraq to fulfill Cassady's latest surreptitious mission.

While the movie is a dark comedy, the plot is based on reality. For the past several decades various US agencies have the tested the veracity of so-called psychic phenomenon and mind altering drugs if for no other reason than to disprove their usefulness. According to author Jon Ronson and researcher John Sergeant in the 2004 book The Men Who Stare At Goats, the US military has has continued to seriously pursue such research to the present day. The book a non-satirical exposé of Pentagon lunacy. It is the reason for the notation at the beginning of the film, "More Of This Is True Than You Would Probably Believe.