Major Major feels a bit unqualified and solves his problem by seeing people in his office only when he's out. Nichols brought these and other talented actors to this ensemble piece. Orson Welles as the impatient and imperious General Dreedle. Buck Henry as the base's vicious executive officer, Colonel Korn. Paula Prentiss as Nurse Duckett, the resident sex object.
None seem in touch with reality.
And the surrealistic world in which Yossarian exists is driving him quite mad. We too, are immersed in the surreal. The film is not told in a linear fashion. Flashbacks, dreamlike memories, circular structure, the blurring of the real and the imagined all tend to keep the viewer a little off-balance. Nichols may have been a bit self-indulgent as he made this film, but the result is spectacular.