The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

by Linda Kay

Directed by: Grant Heslov

This review contains an Implied Kitty Carnage Warning!

Synopsis: Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) uncovers a unique story about a group of elite military men who claim to have been trained to hone their psychic abilities in the U.S. Army’s attempt to create a New Earth force.

Kitty Cameos (with Implied Kitty Carnage Warning!): One of the soldiers Wilton meets is Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who tells him about others involved in the psychic training. A flashback introduces Brig. Gen. Dean Hopgood (Stephen Lang) who believed that the Soviet Union was already developing their own psychic abilities. One of the experiments the Russians were reportedly conducting involved finding out if animals have psychic powers. A long-hair mixed color tabby cat is shown sitting on a table with wires being attached.

The Men Who Stare at Goats - wires attached to longhair bicolor tabby cat

The purpose of the experiment was to learn if the animals could telepathically detect if their babies were in distress. The next shot is of a man smoking a cigarette which he moves threateningly toward an adorable longhair bicolor tabby kitten. No actual harm is shown to either cat. Hopgood’s reaction when reading about these experiments is to utter, “Sick bastards.”