In the new movie “Wild Horse Nine,” two CIA operatives, Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), travel in 1973 to vacation on Easter Island, an Island about 2200 miles west of Chile’s coast. One of the reasons why Chris and Lee go to Easter Island is to see the “big heads.”, which are a series of about 900 giant heads carved from volcanic rock, constructed between 1250 and 1300 AD by the Rapa Nui people, the Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island. The statues honored ancestors and protected their communities. The Rapa Nui believed their ancestors could provide spiritual protection and power, called mana.

While this big head story is the backdrop of this film, the real reason Chris and Lee are on Easter Island is that Chris is dying of what is probably lung Cancer.

The statues were created by the Rapa Nui people, the Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island (known locally as Rapa Nui).

• Construction began approximately 1250–1300 AD.
• Most were carved from volcanic rock.
• They represent important ancestors, chiefs, or other revered individuals.
• There are approximately 900 known Moai.

In 1973, two veteran CIA operatives who helped destabilize Chile’s government are sent to Easter Island for a supposedly quiet vacation. But when one begins revealing dangerous government secrets and confronting his own mortality, their friendship, dark pasts, and loyalty to the agency are put to the ultimate test.