Army of Aquarius

It may not surprise you that solar cookers were originally an invention of the armed forces, but do you know which military project they came from? In the post-Vietnam era, Bill Django (played by Jeff Bridges) went down the rabbithole of the New Age counterculture for six years at the behest of his superiors and came out with the concept of the New Earth Army.  The idea was to create super soldiers and spies. No idea was too loopy from a traditional military (and scientific) standpoint, from remote viewing to invisibility to being to pass through walls. Part of the original plan was to do as little actual killing as possible, until a blowhard named Larry Hoover (Kevin Spacey) reverses that policy, starting with goats.  The men who had spent years serving their country psychically and for the most part nonviolently were apalled by the changes, and Bill Django retired in disgust. Supposedly, so had Len Cassady (George Clooney), until a reporter with a serious case of heartbreak (Ewan McGregor) finds him in Kuwait during the Iraq War.  The Men Who Stare at Goats is the story of the New Earth Army, set against a tale of Great White Adventurers in the Iraq desert.

Based on a nonfiction book also called The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson, the movie recalls some of the best of the Cohen Brothers, whose chracter of The Dude from The Big Lebowski is also played by Jeff Bridges, and has a certain passing resemblance. The Cohen influence is particularly evident in one disturbing-yet-funny scene explaining why goats were used for certain projects instead of dogs.  While the script itself may not be Oscar-worthy, Bridges, Spacey, Clooney and McGregor acquit themselves well. I wish to single out McGregor, as he sports a spot-on Midwestern dialect, as opposed to his native Scottish. McGregor also has the sometimes thankless task of being the foil of Clooney and Bridges, so more kudos to him. To conclude: I thought the ending was quite well done. Thank the members of the New Earth Army for their service and your solar cooker, but keep them away from your water and eggs.