The men who had a dream

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2010)

Supposedly based on true events, the movie has the protagonist - an out of luck journalist - become acquainted with a legend of the top-secret military psychic research program - an event which gives him an illusion of purpose in life.
Lyn Wescott - brilliantly played by Clooney - believes himself to be the last of the real-world Jedi - the only remaining ex-member of what used to be the New Earth Army, a secret unit formed by a neo-hippie with dreams of changing the world. Much had been said about the irony of the film and of the facts it was supposedly based on, but in my opinion that's not what the movie is about. Running deep in the storyline, told through Lynn's flashbacks to his time in the New Earth Army, is the theme of confrontation between dreams and reality. Lynn's mentor is a dreamer, a man who's deeply driven by his noble purpose - so deeply, in fact, that he can't even spot troubles germinating in his own ranks. And so is Lynn, his apt pupil. In their eyes, The New Earth Army is a major force for good, the representation of the archetypal Good in the world. The story of the NEA and its downfall, as recalled by Lynn, is the archetypal tale of the rise of a noble order and its betrayal by one of its own. Long after New Earth Army had been disbanded, Lynn is still trapped in the dream - so when he has a vision of his mentor calling him to the Iraqi desert, he doesn't hesitate to follow it.
The journalist, newly befriended by Lynn, becomes infected by their dream, as it gives him a sense of purpose and elevates him from being a divorced loser to becoming a warrior of Good. But, as Lynn and the traitorous Larry meet in Iraq, the latter reminds him that "none of this was real".
"The men who stare at goats" are, deep down, the men in search for purpose. Their attempts to give their life a meaning are guided by the images and references from the popular culture, and they are themselves in turn unaware that their quest is, in fact, the quest for a modern myth in a world that lost touch with its roots.