Kon-Tiki **** (2012, Pål Sverre Hagen) – Movie Review

Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s riveting real-life sea-faring tale is excitingly told, with a couple of twists at the end, one of them the thrilling big finish.

This is the manly story of legendary famous Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his five-man crew’s epic 101-day-long 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a little balsawood raft in 1947 to prove that South Americans settled in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. [Spoiler alert] It’s incredible that they all survived the sea, the storms, the sharks and all the madness in their bizarre life in the little raft and achieved their goal, though it busts up Heyerdahl’s marriage to his wife Liv (Agnes Kittelsen).

The acting is excellent, particularly by Pål Sverre Hagen, the actor playing Thor Heyerdahl, who suggests his dangerous charm and even more dangerous obsession perfectly. And it’s a surprisingly lavish production, with a fine period reconstruction. It’s taken awhile till has washed up on our UK shores, but the wait is worthwhile.

It was Oscar nominated as Norway’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 2013 Academy Awards. Hagen won Best Actor, Karl Júlíusson Best Production Design and Arne Kaupang Best Visual Effects at Norway’s Amanda Awards in 2013.  All are impeccable, outstanding pieces of work.

Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård, Jakob Oftebro, Odd Magnus Williamson and Tobias Santelmann are also aboard.

It is available dubbed but it needs to be seen in the subtitled version.

The Kon-Tiki was named after an old name for the Inca sun god Viracocha. Heyerdahl filmed the expedition, which became the Oscar-winning documentary in 1951. He also wrote a book about the expedition that was translated into 70 languages and sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1973

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