"The Men Who Stare at Goats"
Directed by: Grant Heslov
Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang
Rated: R
I'd be hard-pressed to name my favorite film. I might be able to muster a list of 50. Same goes for songs.
But when it comes to books, I'm fairly certain. Joseph Heller's classic novel about the futility and utter insanity of war, "Catch-22," tops my list with certainty. It's a satirical masterpiece, and the complexity with which it was written made many people believe it could never be made into a film that would do it justice.
Mike Nichols directed the cinematic version in 1970 and gave screen life to many of the decidedly colorful characters in the novel. Heller's book covered so much involved ground, a film version that attempted to give every subplot in the novel its due would time in at 12 hours or more. But Nichols got the gist, and Alan Arkin became Yossarian, the book's main character.
Director Grant Heslov has made a film based on Jon Ronson's novel, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" that follows the same plan. It's a satirical romp that makes no bones about poking fun at the absurdity of war and the lengths the powers-that-be will go to get the upper hand - no matter how crazy those lengths may be. The lengths in the film are crazy enough to include training soldiers to stare at goats long and strong enough to kill the animals. And that's merely one of the powers that the modern military is exploring in depth.
Ewan McGregor plays Bob Wilton, a journalist whose life is in a shambles and who believes the thing that can save him is his one big story. With that in mind, he heads to Kuwait, where he meets army officer Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who tells him a tale of the U.S. government's "New Earth Army." It's a top-secret program specializing in psychic warfare where soldiers use their "Jedi mind powers" in the same way others use guns and ammo.
Just when Wilton thinks things are getting intense/weird/beyond the realm, he meets the New Earth Army's commanding officer, Bill Django, played by Jeff Bridges in a role that will bring to mind a somewhat less laid-back version of his "The Dude" character from the Coen brothers' classic, "The Big Lebowski." From the first time I saw the previews of "The Men Who Stare at Goats," I have thought of the Coens and their warped sense of humor, and once Django comes on the scene, the influence is apparent.
The film is a well-conceived and executed parody of the military and also has its share of tongue-in-cheek "in jokes." The goat-staring military men who are honing their psychic abilities are referred to as "Jedi" and "remote viewers" many times in the course of the movie. At one point, McGregor - the same actor who played the young Obi Wan Kenobi in three of the "Star Wars" movies - looks at Clooney and inquires, "What's a Jedi?"
While "The Men Who Stare at Goats" doesn't hit the heights that "Catch-22" did (especially the book), the movie deserves acclaim and is fun, insightful and well worth viewing.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.
