A Norwegian-filmed dramatization of Thor Heyerdahl's legendary expedition across the Pacific Ocean on a flimsy wooden raft. Lovingly constructed and beautifully filmed with a sharp eye for the grandiose, it's eye candy on the same level as Planet Earth, if to a slightly more reasonable scale. The plot is a gentle balance between nature-watching and temper-managing, as the crew of six men and a parrot get to know a bit too much about one another over the course of their hundred-day adventure. Several of the journey's more dramatic moments feel manufactured (and, upon review, actually are) but I'd hardly call that unexpected and it may have been necessary to give the story a bit of punch. After all, where's the excitement in watching two hours of smooth sailing against a tropical horizon? It's an uplifting tale, if not an especially challenging one, and excellent fuel for escapist daydreams. Definitely worth catching on Blu-Ray if you're as big on our planet's sights and sounds as I am.
at the Nashville Film Festival. It was an inspiring film
that brought out raw emotion for the six men that made the
101 day journey together. Thor was a calm leader that kept
his wits about him even under the toughest of conditions.
And it was incredible that he could not swim! I am not sure
if all of the facts are true in this film, but it was
extremely well done. The actors are fantastic and engaging.
Truly one of our modern day adventurers, Thor Heyedahl had
a vision that he shared with the world. This is a must see
movie. Even if you doubt his theory that South Americans
crossed the Pacific to land in Polynesia, the story is one
that you will enjoy and keep you on the edge of your seat!Neither the book, nor the amateur first film mentions it much, and this new film only briefly touches on it, but several of the Kon-Tiki crew were heroes of the first order, not even counting this marvelous expedition. Knut Haugland (the "radio operator") was one of Norway's greatest WWII heroes, leading the fight against the Nazi's and also sabotaging their early work with Atomic energy. Knut was given a number of Knighthoods and orders. They don;t make men liek this anymore. Torstein Raaby (the other radio guy) helped sink the Tirpitz and was a noted arctic explorer.
Now, the original film is a fantastic feat and won the Academy Award for best Documentary in 1951. Well deserved. But it's all in hand-held B&W, rather grainy.
However, this new film is in glorious color, and the blue of the sea has to be seen and appreciated. This new film has fantastic cinematography , and the actors are (more or less) dead ringers for the real crew members. Using all local actors the Norwegians left a great deal of verisimilitude to this breathtakingly beautiful film. It was also nominated for a Oscar.
Even tho the dangers here are mostly staged, rather than real, the film was shot on the open ocean, and it shows.
Just beautiful.
Read Best Reviews of Kon-Tiki (2012) Here
Just got back from seeing this movie at the movie house. It's showing hardly anywhere; only two theaters in the New York area, presumably because although I saw the English version of the movie, it still counts as a 'foreign film'. So I'm glad it's also available on DVD for those of you who are interested and unable to find a showing. I went with my dad, and we both LOVED (loved, loved, LOVED) it. Although we all know the outcome, it nevertheless kept us on the edge of our seats. The performances were terrific (esp. from the guy with the weird name who plays Thor Heyerdahl), the cinematography was sumptuous, and it is hard not to feel terribly emotional at the end when Thor falls to his knees in the sand of a Polynesian island and realized that he has proven his theory (and that's not a 'spoiler', surely??? I mean, EVERYONE knows what Thor Heyerdahl did!)I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is a secret adventurer at heart.
Want Kon-Tiki (2012) Discount?
The Andean story of how the world was created by a tall white, blue eyed man with long blond-reddish hair and beard who arose from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia has been passed down by word of mouth through generations of South American Indians. Known to the Aymaras as Viracocha (he was also called Kon-Tiki), Quetzalcoatl (by Aztecs), and Kukulkan (by Mayans), the story is similar to Biblical accounts of the creation of a race of giants who ruled the Earth but who displeased God and were destroyed by a flood. Unlike the God of Israel, however, Viracocha is said to have disappeared across the Pacific Ocean by walking on the water.Norwegian Zoologist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl believed that Viracocha, rather than walking on the water, left Peru on a raft and floated with the current to Polynesia, a feat he wished to duplicate. (He did not consider the possibility of Viracocha's connection with the very ancient, advanced technological cultures of Tiahuanaco, Puma Punka, and Chavin de Huantar). Heyerdahl's accounts of how he and five other men built a balsa-wood raft which he named "Kon-Tiki" and sailed to the Tuamotu Archipelago in the South Seas is dramatized in Norwegian directors, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's Kon-Tiki, one of five nominated films in the Best Foreign Language Film category at this years' Oscars.
The film was shot in two versions, one in Norwegian and the other in English (the one I saw), presumably to appeal to a broader audience. Engagingly portrayed by Pal Sverre Hagen, Heyerdahl is first seen living with his wife Liv (Agnes Kittelsen) on the Polynesian island of Fatu Huku, where he resided for a year. After listening to native accounts, Heyerdahl began to develop the idea that Polynesians originally arrived from the Americas, not from Asia. Opting for adventure rather than character development, the film shows the courage (some call it being foolhardy, or even a death-wish) of the crew that consisted of three fellow Norwegians, as well as Swedish cameraman (Gustaf Skarsgard) and refrigerator salesman Herman Watzinger (Anders Baasmo Christiansen) as his engineer as they traveled 4,300 nautical miles across the Paciifc, isolated and alone for 101 days.
The film pays little attention to the day-to-day routine aboard the raft but concentrates on the thrill of the struggle against sharks, the fierce storms, conflict among the crew (contrary to Heyerdahl's own account), and the immediate danger of their raft collapsing. The photography, done without CGI effects such as in Life of Pi, is striking and beautiful, yet Kon-Tiki is mostly a formulaic adventure story that mimics the superficial triumphalism of Hollywood without capturing the deeper spirit of the journey. Heyerdahl's character is hardly explored and, while his subsequent travel to Easter Island is noted, there is no mention of his later advocacy of environmental issues and world peace.
While most scientists still oppose Heyerdahl's ideas and can show strong DNA evidence linking Polynesians to Asians, there are also anomalies that point in a different direction. For example, researcher David Pratt tells us that there are various genetic and cultural similarities between the Polynesians and the Tlingit, Kwakuitl and Haida Indians of Alaska and Canada something not readily explained by any mainstream theories. In addition, there is the famous Kon-Tiki statue in the sunken Gardens in Tiahuanaco showing a man with a thick beard and mustache (South American Indians are beardless and do not shave).
One of the features of this and other statues in the area is the positioning of the hands, one over the heart and the other over the stomach, the same feature seen on Polynesian statues and gold medallions. Whatever the truth, there is no doubt that Thor Heyerdahl, through his willingness to take risks, brought the topic of seafaring, communication, and migration in the ancient world to people's attention, and deserves the appreciation he receives in the film. If Kon-Tiki can renew interest in man's pre-history, it will have served a very valuable purpose.
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