Reality, wrote Philip K. Dick, is what's still there even after you stop believing in it. Thus an enlightened man in our age of science may well speculate on the notion that our bodies, like the walls of the room we are in, are all made up of atoms. And atoms, for their part, contain a lot of empty space. So shouldn't it be possible to somehow flexibly merge the atoms of one's body with those of the wall and pass right on through? Of course, the wall may have something to say about it.

The wall, however, never stopped Gen. Stubblebine, the United States Army's chief of intelligence in the early 1980s, from believing in mind over matter, despite the damage to his nose. (So much for the school of hard knocks.) Stubblebine, who was also fascinated with supposed mystical superpowers such as levitation, psychic healing and time travel, was convinced that one day he'd walk right through that wall.

Stubblebine's struggles with a cruel and uncaring wall are re-created — not without a touch of sarcasm — in "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the Hollywood adaptation of journalist Jon Ronson's excellent book of the same name, which explored the unlikely point of intersection between the stolid U.S. Army and the flighty New Age. It's important to note that while the film creates a fictional plot, with plenty of scenes played for over-the-top laughs, the film's premise and the bulk of its details are indeed rooted in fact. Or, as the film's opening credit puts it, "More of this is true than you would believe."