Wild Horse Nine – Film Review

Director – Martin McDonagh
Writer – Martin McDonagh
Stars – John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi

As in In Bruges (2008) and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), the central characters are an older and a somewhat younger man. Here, the duo are the older Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), both CIA operatives with blood on their hands. The year is 1973, and they are involved in the events that will eventually lead to the overthrow of Chile’s recently democratically elected President, Salvador Allende. In 1963, Chris was in Dallas when President Kennedy was shot. He knows a great deal and is intermittently recording his memories on a pocket dictaphone as his days draw to a close. He has a desire to visit Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to see the enormous stone head sculptures for which the island is famous. He is fascinated by them, and Lee, his sidekick, accompanies him. Chris is becoming increasingly indiscreet about his professional past, much to the concern of his drug-addicted CIA handler, MJ (Steve Buscemi). On the plane to Rapa Nui, Chris and Lee meet two Chilean female students, Monica (Mariana di Girolamo) and her college friend Alicia (Ailin Salas), who speak positively about President Allende. McDonagh sets the scene for the interactions of this quartet.

Chris is in a philosophical frame of mind as he ponders his long life. At the heart of the film is the working relationship that Chris and Lee have enjoyed over the years. McDonagh provides glimpses of the lives they have led and the bond that has developed between them. They are an intriguing duo. But a life lived in the shadow of constant violence does not necessarily change with the onset of old age. Here, violence emerges on the island, but from where does the threat come? Chris’s days are clearly numbered, but what remains uncertain is whether he will die of natural or unnatural causes.

Rapa Nui provides a sparse and atmospheric landscape in which Chris can contemplate his life. There is dark humour throughout, but Malkovich, with his lined features, appears in old age to be a more benign and philosophical figure than his professional career as a CIA agent might suggest. It is a masterclass in acting. Rockwell, as Lee, provides the necessary foil to Chris and his musings.

The cinematography captures what a mysterious and beautiful place Rapa Nui is. It is physically remote from the intrigues surrounding the events that took place in Dallas in 1963 and Chile in 1973. But McDonagh’s unique imagination manages to bring these disparate events together in this sparse landscape. Despite its remoteness, the CIA never sleeps, and guns and gunfire become part of Chris and Lee’s existence on Rapa Nui, just as they have been throughout their professional lives.

McDonagh creates in Chris a man in a reflective mood as he faces his own mortality. His life has been dominated by covert intrigue and surreptitious political violence. Violence is in his DNA. Notwithstanding his penchant for violence, McDonagh has made a beautiful and complex film, with Malkovich as its central protagonist, adding immeasurably to its appeal.