"True movie gold": Baroness Chakrabarti reviews 'Wild Horse Nine'
John Malkovich as Chris: Image: Landmark Media / Alamy
3 min read
Set just before the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat, Martin McDonagh’s new film is extremely worthy of its talent and of your time – but choose your cinema companion wisely
Uncritical enthusiasts for US post-war covert international operations might best avoid Wild Horse Nine, written and directed by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges 2008, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 2017, The Banshees of Inisherin 2022 and other film and theatre work). Everyone else however, is in for a treat sprinkled with some true cinema gold.
It is 1973 and two CIA operatives – Chris, played by John Malkovich (in a possible career-best performance) and Sam Rockwell as his protégé Lee – take a break from destabilising Chilean democracy and the presidency of Salvador Allende before the military coup. They fly to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) where the film takes many a dark, comic and poignant turn. Our historical hindsight makes us insiders who, to some extent, know what’s coming. This only intensifies the experience.
Sam Rockwell as Lee | Image: Landmark Media / Alamy
With the ever-compelling Steve Buscemi as the head of the Latin American desk, and the pair’s detested boss, our trio of main characters is complete. However, they are complemented by some fine smaller and cameo performances from Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas as two young and idealistic students Monica and Alicia; Parker Posey as Lee’s wife Marge and Tom Waits as Chris’ brother Jim. The horses are extraordinary.
No doubt many a House reader will be intrigued by the history and politics that are everywhere in this story
I am determined to avoid even the tiniest spoilers of a piece so well-written and directed and where the two lead performances scream Oscar bait, alongside McDonagh’s contribution. The time has surely come for 72-year-old Malkovich.
Mariana Di Girólamo as Monica and Ailín Salas as Alicia | Image: Landmark Media / Alamy
Ben Davis’ cinematography masters the art of both big vistas and perfect closeups. The latter are essential to capturing intimate performances exposing the tender and reflective side of male friendship, even between those who have lived the life of the gun. In this respect, I could not disagree more with veteran Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw’s “strenuous sweary machismo” jibe. Carter Burwell’s musical choices are also a joy. John M singing Joni M will surely live in memories and great movie moment compilations for a very long time.
No doubt many a reader of The House will be intrigued by the history and politics that are everywhere in this story. However, long after the last debate (choose your cinema companion wisely) about how much we will ever know about the full extent of the CIA’s antics, there are deeper, even more universal themes to explore.
Life, death, ageing, ailing, addiction and regret are explored with humour, pathos, irony and surprise. And for those of us of a certain age, the 1970s look better than I remember, thanks to the meticulous set design of Niamh Coulter and Monet deVilliers and Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh’s costumes.
That said, far from being a pure period piece, this film and its undercurrents feel extremely contemporary. While Chris and Lee are the main event, some of the dialogue between Malkovich’s Chris and di Girolamo’s Monica should move anyone who has been troubled by more recent intergenerational culture wars within communities and even families on both sides of the Atlantic. All in all, this film is exceptionally worthy of its talent and of your time.
Baroness Chakrabarti is a Labour peer
Wild Horse Nine
Written and directed by: Martin McDonagh
Venue: General cinema release
