November 17, 2009
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a wonderfully silly film. Absurd physical humour, exaggerated one-dimensional characters, a razor sharp script, and plot lines which make little sense beyond connecting to the next set piece - there is a real Cohen Brothers feel to it, and not just because George Clooney steals the show.
This is the story of small town journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) who decides, almost inexplicably, to travel to Iraq to report on the war. His wife has run off with his editor, who happens to have a prosthetic arm, so needs must. In Iraq Bob meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who claims to have been in a special operations unit of the US army that sought to access eastern mysticism and supernatural powers to bring peace and harmony to military operations. Sort of. Lyn is clearly a lunatic. Bob is stupid enough to follow him into the desert.
Much of the film involves a series of flashbacks of how this special unit – founded by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) and brilliantly called the New Earth Army – came about. Fearing that the Russians are up to something similar, the US army essentially approves a hippy movement in uniform. Meditation, long hair, chanting and expressive dance are all cultivated, and Lyn is the star pupil. Oh, and soldiers in the unit are called Jedi. Even our Ewan does a double take at that, despite dabbling in that area himself. When the weedy but geeky Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) comes onto the scene, we even get a contemporary Darth Vader.
The main plot of Lyn and Bob’s adventure in Iraq is shaky, held together because the premise to the film is so daft to begin with. If soldiers are trying to kills goats by staring at them, how can you question a few awkward plot short-cuts? And yet, of course, we know that the US army did investigate the possibility of using psychological powers. The curtain rises with the intriguing tag line ‘More of what follows is true than you may believe’. They actually did import, and presumably stared at, a load of goats. They also played the nauseating theme tune to ‘Barney and Friends’ in trying to break down Iraqi prisoners (one of the film’s darker scenes).
But this film has far too much fun with the idea of an army getting all spiritual to dwell on the brutal realities of the US-led wars in Iraq. Some might criticise it for that, but there are already films which have dealt with the utter awfulness of Iraq and Afghanistan, and there will be more to come. Each generation takes a number of perspectives on the wars it wages, and there is surely room for a quirky, off-beat comedy like this. In terms of performances, McGregor’s vaguely film noir commentary could have been annoying but isn’t, and Clooney again shows himself to be a great comic actor. Bridges and Spacey are the perfect supporting cast. And at just over 90 minutes, the film shows an admirable sense of restraint. I didn’t expect to enjoy watching a goat fall over as much as I did.
This is the story of small town journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) who decides, almost inexplicably, to travel to Iraq to report on the war. His wife has run off with his editor, who happens to have a prosthetic arm, so needs must. In Iraq Bob meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who claims to have been in a special operations unit of the US army that sought to access eastern mysticism and supernatural powers to bring peace and harmony to military operations. Sort of. Lyn is clearly a lunatic. Bob is stupid enough to follow him into the desert.
Much of the film involves a series of flashbacks of how this special unit – founded by Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) and brilliantly called the New Earth Army – came about. Fearing that the Russians are up to something similar, the US army essentially approves a hippy movement in uniform. Meditation, long hair, chanting and expressive dance are all cultivated, and Lyn is the star pupil. Oh, and soldiers in the unit are called Jedi. Even our Ewan does a double take at that, despite dabbling in that area himself. When the weedy but geeky Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) comes onto the scene, we even get a contemporary Darth Vader.
The main plot of Lyn and Bob’s adventure in Iraq is shaky, held together because the premise to the film is so daft to begin with. If soldiers are trying to kills goats by staring at them, how can you question a few awkward plot short-cuts? And yet, of course, we know that the US army did investigate the possibility of using psychological powers. The curtain rises with the intriguing tag line ‘More of what follows is true than you may believe’. They actually did import, and presumably stared at, a load of goats. They also played the nauseating theme tune to ‘Barney and Friends’ in trying to break down Iraqi prisoners (one of the film’s darker scenes).
But this film has far too much fun with the idea of an army getting all spiritual to dwell on the brutal realities of the US-led wars in Iraq. Some might criticise it for that, but there are already films which have dealt with the utter awfulness of Iraq and Afghanistan, and there will be more to come. Each generation takes a number of perspectives on the wars it wages, and there is surely room for a quirky, off-beat comedy like this. In terms of performances, McGregor’s vaguely film noir commentary could have been annoying but isn’t, and Clooney again shows himself to be a great comic actor. Bridges and Spacey are the perfect supporting cast. And at just over 90 minutes, the film shows an admirable sense of restraint. I didn’t expect to enjoy watching a goat fall over as much as I did.