In anticipation of Martin McDonagh's new film about two CIA agents in 1970s Chile, writer Lale Arikoglu seeks out the locations and the real people behind them.

Diego Araya Corvalán

Within a few minutes of arriving at archaeological site Ahu Tongariki in Rapa Nui , where 15 gargantuan moai statues stand with their backs to the sea, my guide Gina’s phone lights up with the words “Tsunami Alert.” I ask her if this is a relatively normal occurrence on the island. “No… Although there was one [tsunami] in 1960 that washed several of these away towards the hill,” she says, gesturing towards the large sacred monolithic heads carved from volcanic stone, the Pacific Ocean sitting vast and blue behind them.…