"The Men Who Stare at Goats"

By: Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

The mission: to develop the psychic powers of gifted soldiers to a level so great that they are able to stop a goat’s heart just by staring at it or break up cloud formations by merely wishing it to be so. The objective: to bring peace to the world by mentally disarming hostile armies. The movie: “The Men Who Stare at Goats.”

“The Men Who Stare at Goats” is a goofy but clever movie that is fueled by the skillful work of George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor. As it is, this film is rather flimsy, but worth a grin and a chuckle for both its situational humor and sardonic plot.

Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is a small-time reporter who is shaken from his suburban reverie when his wife leaves him for his boss. Intent on impressing his wife (or proving that she was wrong), Wilton goes to Iraq to become a real reporter—a wartime correspondent. Unfortunately, Wilton has a hard time breaking into the old boys club that constitutes the Iraq War news troupe, and so he is left feeling as impotent as ever.

However, patience finally avails Wilton, and his big break comes in the form of Lynn Cassady, a leading member of a top secret military organization called ‘The New Earth Army’, which focuses on developing the psychic powers of mentally gifted soldiers. Wilton is grateful for the intriguing story, but finds himself unable to believe the grandiose claims to power attested to by Cassady, for the psychic cohort described by Cassady seems less like a group of dedicated geniuses and more like a group of hippie crackpots. The soldiers of the New Earth Army do not conduct scientific experiments on brains or study the psychological makeup of combatants; instead, these men prance with flowers, do yoga, pray to the earth for guidance, and stare at goats.

Despite his skepticism, Wilton goes along for the ride with an open mind. He and Cassady travel deep into Iraq—one looking for a story and the other looking to accomplish a mission. Wilton quickly learns that, with Cassady, there is a very fine line between ineptitude and genius, for Cassady gets the pair in and out of trouble with what is either stupidity, psychic foresight or dumb luck. Yet, the further into the story Wilton gets, the more he believes in the efficacy of psychic powers. He believes that Cassady and the rest of the New Earth Army are capable of doing amazing things (although he is unsure what, exactly, is amazing about those things), and he also comes to believe that he, a mere reporter, is likewise psychically gifted.

But in the end, it is not their mental prowess that leads these men closer to their objective. Rather, it is their outlook, their way of life, that makes the difference. It turns out that working on their own selves—and yes, through yoga and prancing—is the first critical step towards ridding the world of violence.

The way that “The Men Who Stare at Goats” combines the grim nature of warfare with the lighthearted attitude of hippie culture is both funny and clever. However, that this movie is worth more than a grin is due to the work of George Clooney and Jeff Bridges (who plays the founder of the New Earth Army), who fill their respective roles with twice the genius of the characters they play.

With that said, “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is lacking in certain respects. The plot of this movie is far from riveting, and most of the characters lack the kind of depth and heart that could have made this movie great. Nonetheless, “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is at very least worthwhile. When all is said and done, the audience cannot help but think that the world could use more soldiers from the New Earth Army.