Kon-Tiki (2012)

Legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal's epic 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a balsawood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove that it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

Directors:

Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg

Writer:

Petter Skavlan

Stars:

Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 12 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pål Sverre Hagen	...	Thor Heyerdahl (as Pål Hagen)
Anders Baasmo Christiansen	...	Herman Watzinger
Tobias Santelmann	...	Knut Haugland
Gustaf Skarsgård	...	Bengt Danielsson
Odd-Magnus Williamson	...	Erik Hesselberg
Jakob Oftebro	...	Torstein Raaby
Agnes Kittelsen	...	Liv Heyerdahl
Peter Wight	...	Spinden
Amund Hellum Noraker	...	Bamse
Eilif Hellum Noraker	...	Thor Jr.
Elisabeth Matheson	...	Allison
Kasper Arneberg Johnsen	...	Thor 6 yrs. (as Kasper Ameberg Johnsen)
Edward Kling	...	Erik 7 yrs.
Jo Adrian Haavind	...	Journalist
Jonas Heier Straumsheim	...	Photographer

Storyline

The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean in a balsawood raft in 1947, together with five men, to prove that South Americans back in pre-Columbian times could have crossed the ocean and settled on Polynesian islands. After financing the trips with loans and donations, they set off on an epic 101-day-long trip across 8000 kilometers, while the world was waiting for the result of the trip. The film tells about the origin of the idea, the preparations, and the events on the trip. The "Kon-Tiki" was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, and "Kon-Tiki" is an old name for this god. Heyerdahl filmed the expedition, which later became the Academy Award winning documentary in 1951, and he wrote a book about the expedition that was translated into 70 languages and sold more than 50 millions copies around the world. Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times, although most anthropologists now believe they did not...

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Plot Keywords:

ocean crossing | ocean | pacific ocean | expedition | raft | 

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Taglines:

The adventure starts on August 24th.

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for a disturbing violent sequence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Søren Pilmark (Freuchen), Pål Sverre Hagen (Thor Heyerdahl) & Jakob Oftebro (Torstein Raaby) also worked together on Department Q: A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) as Marcus Jacobsen, Johannes & Pasgård respectively.

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Goofs

It is not true that every 13th wave is larger than the others, as claimed in the film. In fact, there exists no pattern in wave sizes. In the original Kon-Tiki documentary, it was shown that the crew simply waited for a wave big enough to carry them over the reef.

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Quotes

Thor Heyerdahl: [reading a book] Liv? Listen to this: "The Faa-hoka is the Marquisian variety of pineapple. It was found in abundance by the first European explorers".
Liv Heyerdahl: [confused] Same pineapple?
Thor Heyerdahl: Yes. That really belongs in South America.
Liv Heyerdahl: Perhaps it can swim?

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Crazy Credits

Before the closing credits, short clips are shown in which original footage shot by Heyerdahl was reenacted by the "Kon-Tiki" actors: urinating overboard in the open sea, dancing with natives under palms, portraits, and the like. Along with this, brief notes concerning each crew member's path of life after the trip are given.

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Alternate Versions

An even shorter English cut (96:01 min) was released in the USA, 23min shorter than the original Norwegian cut.

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Connections

Remake of Kon-Tiki (1950)

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Soundtracks

Flickan i Havanna
("The girl in Havana")
Lyrics by Evert Taube (as Taube) and music by Horatio R. Palmer (as Palmer)

User Reviews

Somehow like a Norwegian version of 'Life of Pi' - but better and based on a true story

What a weird coincidence that such a movie came out attempting for an Oscar nomination the same time with Life of Pi, with both exhibited many similar things about survival in the ocean, though the subject matter in each film may be entirely different.

Anyway, even though I have not watched nor have any knowledge of the original, I am impressed with the way this film was made. It was pretty well-balanced with no major flaws in my opinion. Well acting performances by the cast were complemented by a high level of cinematography technique that made looked like the entire journey on the raft was really shot wide in the ocean. Like Life of Pi, there were certain marine animals that were infamously being shown from the real life account of Kon-Tiki, and the CGI made on the animals were so real you probably cant tell if those animals were fake.

Probably the major point of improvement that the film can work on is the lack of character development of the other participants in the Kon Tiki, aside from Thor Heyerdahl himself. I am not implying there was none, as we get to see Thor's mates conflicts happening from the start till the end, but I wish I could have known more why they decided to join and their background story. Understandably, with the time given the film had chosen to focus on Thor instead with a lot of plot material explaining why he had to venture into such a journey.

I was also curious if there were more that could be shown about a group of men enduring a raft journey across the ocean in +100 days. But overall, just by solely comparing the similarities, this is much better and believable than Life of Pi as well as a very satisfying movie experience.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [Germany]

Country:

UK Norway Denmark Germany Sweden

Language:

Norwegian English French Swedish

Release Date:

26 April 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kon-Tiki

Filming Locations:

Maldives

Box Office

Budget:

$16,600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$22,168, 28 April 2013

Gross USA:

$1,517,410

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$22,842,887

Company Credits

Production Co:

Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Roenbergfilm, Nordisk Film Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1