Martin McDonagh's 'Wild Horse Nine' follows two CIA agents on a 1973 trip to Easter Island

Martin McDonagh's new comedy "Wild Horse Nine," which has been shown at a fall film festival, follows two CIA officers, Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), as they prepare to vacation on Easter Island in 1973. The film is set in Santiago, Chile, where the agents are stationed and where, according to the plot described in reviews, the U.S. spent millions to keep socialist Salvador Allende from winning the presidency. Chris is terminally ill, and Lee has a secret assignment that the story gradually reveals. Within months of the story's opening, a military coup installs Gen. Augusto Pinochet as dictator.

The Los Angeles Times, the left-leaning source, is a review that leads with the film's historical premise, stressing Nixon's reported orders and the campaign against Allende, and calls it a vacation comedy about the CIA's dark deeds. Its framing presents the film as satire of U.S. political meddling, with most of its space given to the Chile history. The alternative sources, The A.V. Club and Den of Geek, lead with McDonagh's craft: The A.V. Club features his comments on male friendships and the bond between Chris and Lee, while Den of Geek paraphrases him on how In Bruges shaped the film and highlights the Easter Island setting. Both mention the Chile backdrop only briefly. The right-leaning Washington Times, in an excerpt, centers on Malkovich's character as a weary, constantly traveling CIA officer and does not address the historical events or the director's remarks. Left and alternative coverage agree on the basic premise, but the left emphasizes political history while the right emphasizes character.