Thursday
05Nov2009
Movie Review - 'The Men Who Stare at Goats'
Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 11:49PM | The Men Who Stare at Goats
Starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey  |
It's a deviously warped story, the kind that has to be at least partially true, and according to the disclaimer at the beginning of
the film, it is: "More of this is true that you would believe" replaces "Based on a true story" or "Inspired by a true story" in The Men Who Stare at
Goats.
And while it veers off the road from being true at some hard to define point, it's much easier to pin down where the movie itself drives
into a ditch. And that's a shame, because Stare at Goats really does feel like it's heading somewhere.
The story goes that journalist Jon Ronson picked up the scent of one of the military's biggest secrets. Back in the 1970s, Ronson
learned, the Pentagon was developing a special kind of training program focused on psychic abilities. Rather than shooting guns and
driving tanks, this new breed of soldier would fight the wars of the future with their minds.
How far such a program advanced is hard to say, although through Ronson's writing and other sources, it's well documented that the
military did explore a kind of psychological warfare. We blasted music into Manuel Noriega's stronghold, used the same methods (and
worse) against inmates at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, and the practice by the government of "seeing" events or individuals at
great distances, called remote viewing, has been exposed through declassified documents.
The title The Men Who Stare at Goats refers to a very particular psychic ability, and if you've seen the commercials or
trailer, you know what happens if you stare at a goat the right way. In the film, a fictionalized Ronson named Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) has a chance encounter with Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), whom Wilton knows from previous research has some
experience with a secret government outfit called the First Earth Batallion.
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