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Bringing a spirit of silliness to the War on Terror
12-Mar-2010  Permalink

Bringing a spirit of silliness to the War on Terror 

It's a question for the ages: Can George Clooney act? Detractors suggest he always simply 'plays himself'. But it's hard to think of more than one role (and the less said about his stint as Batman the better) in which he has not been, at the very least, perfectly credible. That in itself is no small feat.

That's particularly true when the character in question is a middle aged former military man who believes he has psychic superpowers. Who claims to be able to become invisible or block a punch with just the power of his mind, and who activates his powers by listening to American rock band Boston's '70s hit 'More Than A Feeling'. In The Men Who Stare at Goats, Clooney brings not only credibility, but even dignity, to just such a ludicrous character.

Lyn Cassady was part of a secret military unit in the late 1970s, the New Earth Army (NEA), led by khaki-clad hippie Bill Django (Bridges), which aimed to harness the abilities of 'gifted' soldiers. They were trained to walk through walls, communicate telepathically, and kill goats with the power of their minds. So says Cassady.

He imparts these secrets to lovelorn young investigative journalist Bob Wilton (McGregor). Wilton is skeptical but, vulnerable in his current heartbroken state and desperate to reaffirm his manhood, he accompanies Cassady on a bizarre quest into the deepest deserts of present day, US-occupied Iraq.

The plot cuts back and forth between their oddball road trip and the fraught history of the NEA; from Django's New Age conversion on the battle fields of Vietnam (he noticed that the human instinct to not kill was so strong that new soldiers would deliberately aim their weapons over the enemy's head) to the NEA's idealistic inception and LSD fuelled training exercises, to its eventual implosion due to infiltration by certain overly-ambitious forces.

As you can probably guess, The Men Who Stare at Goats is silly. I say 'silly' using my best, clipped, Graham-Chapman-in-starchy-military-attire impersonation. It's the sort of absurd, hilarious silliness you might attribute to Monty Python and their ilk. All the actors commit wholeheartedly to this spirit of silliness.

In a demonstration to the NEA of the power of mind over matter, one guest guru hooks a weight to his genitals and holds it aloft. His students are suitably impressed, although one does ask the obvious question: 'What is the practical application?' Later, during a test of telepathic ability, an arrogant young recruit (Spacey) rolls his eyes back in his head as his 'spirit guide' predicts, in an extravagant falsetto, the contents of a box. He guesses wrong.

The punchline to all this is that the film is woven around a thread oftruth. The Men Who Stare at Goats is based on journalist Jon Ronson's2004 non-fiction book. Ronson provides an account of the formation in 1979 of a secret unit thatsought to harness the psychic powers of 'gifted' soldiers, and links this history to psychological interrogation techniques employed during the War on Terror.

 www.eurekastreet.com.au

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In the last few days I have been researching a political organisation known as the nationalist alternative. From their ideologies it is not hard to jump from ultra conservative white-only party to radical neo-nazi party. I realised that many opposed to such racist groups are looking into a violent mirror. The nationalist alternative was attacked aggressively at an anti internet censorship rally in South Australia, a video on slackbastard depicted multicultural groups stomping the white only protestors heads, the lyrics to a song by Skarharrper called "nazi scum" has the lyrics "we gotta beat em in the street, there's a time to fight and that time has come, we're comin for ya nazi scum". How does one defend minorities by violently attacking one?
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Re: Killing Indian Students: Australia's Favourite New Sport!- by Sean Maguire

How about the indian guy who slashed his wife's throat, is still australia to blame for?..may be , for accenpting them to move over!I am an immigrant myself but I love this country, there is no perfect place on Earth but australia is one of the best! - Michael

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This entire fiasco is an incredible over reaction. Australia is an easy target. Why? because we are honest, transperant and we talk about our failings. Is there aggression and iolence in Australia? Sure, like any country. But we face it head on and we work to eliminate it. What about the stories of the 100’s of thousands of Indian workers who are treated as slaves in the middle east and nobody says anything? What about the fact that India still has entrenched pedophilia in terms of child brides? What about the crushing poverty embraced by more than 60% of the Indian people while this nation runs around building nuclear warheads? A storm in a teacup, an over reaction, and a diversion from some the really bad issues facing India. What is really happening here is that students are being unnecessarily frightened. meaning they will miss out on what could be the opportunity of their lifetime. - Daryl
 
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I couldn't agree with Sean Maguire's article more on the recent Indian attacks. For all those who like the pretend the attacks are merely based on coincidence, try to imagine how we would react if the boot were on the other foot and an uncharacteristic number of Australia's had been murdered in India. Would you push for a travel ban? Would you be scared for your children in a seemingly hostile environment so many miles away?  - Kara Jensen-Mackinnon

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