One of the best and most overlooked films of 2009 was the fantastic “The Men Who Stare At Goats“. Funny, thought provoking and disturbing this is definitely a movie for our time. Take a look at this trailer:

This is a film adaptation of the book by the investigative journalist Jon Ronson. This book is a work of non-fiction which examines the more far out experiments undertaken by the CIA, psychic warfare, mind control.  The film takes the content of the book and hangs a fictional story on it set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, staring Ewan McGregor as an investigative reporter and George Clooney as an ex special forces ‘Jedi Warrior’. This is a piece of inspired casting as the film makes repeated Star Wars references. The goats of the title are a recurring motif throughout the film.  In flashback we learn that one of the objectives of the psychic warfare program was to train a soldier to kill one of these unfortunate  animals using the power of the mind alone. Clooney’s character succeeds in this, which he sees as bringing curse upon himself and the New Earth Army as he has used his powers for evil and, “turned to the dark side”. There are a lot of laughs, but there is a serious message at the heart of this film. In particular questions about the secret development and use of secret psychological torture techniques on captives in the global war on terror.