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 | pacific | year 1947 | kon tiki expedition | ocean crossing | 

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Taglines:

Based on the incredible true story!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for a disturbing violent sequence

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:

Кон-Тики

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

"The shots were for a very important sequence during an emotional peak of the movie," says ILP Visual Effects Supervisor Niklas Jacobson. "They needed to look absolutely convincing in order to not take the audience out of the drama."

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Goofs

The crew were not worried about whether the ropes would hold the float together, as it is portrayed in the film. As we can see in the Kon-Tiki documentary, the balsa wood was much softer than the rope, and it was actually the rope that ate through the wood. The result was that the rope eventually was protected by the space that had been created around it.

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Quotes

Thor Heyerdahl: [sitting with Herman in a roof top at night] Cheers!
Herman Watzinger: I'm 32 years old. A refrigerator salesman, in a broken marriage. That's me. I really want to join that raft. I know it can be dangerous... but if you only knew how dangerous the refrigerator business was.
Thor Heyerdahl: [serious] No one can save us out there. You get that?
Herman Watzinger: Except your theory. Captain.
Thor Heyerdahl: [ironic] You will definitely not freeze your leg off. I can promise that.

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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

The original Norwegian cut (119:02 min) differs thus from the International English cut (113:38 min, which is entirely in English):

• A longer walking-toward-the-foreground opening shot (2:08 min), with an almost-post-drowned extension (0:12) at the end of that scene.
• A short (deleted) running naked-to-the-beach extension after the waterfall-skinny-dipping scene at Fatu Hiva. (0:09)
• Extended scenes: pineapple (0:06), jungle-night-trek (0:04), waiting-in-lobby (0:12), publisher-interview (0:10), NY-apartment (0:16), phone-conversation (0:40), meet-the-crew (0:13), raft-loading (0:26, includes introduction of the envelope), and more.
• End-credits are also different: Norwegian runs for 5:24, English for 6:41 min (due to additional English credits).

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Connections

Referenced in Excelsior (2013)

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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

Intrepid Explorers Follow Charismatic Thor Heyerdahl

As of 1/4/13, Kon Tiki is on the shortlist of 9 for Academy Award Foreign Language film; list of the 5 final nominees is expected next week.

Beautiful cinematography...including magnificent scenes of whales & sharks circling the raft.

Character studies of Thor Heyerdahl & his companions on the journey are intelligent subtle portrayals. Thor is one driven man, from almost drowning in childhood to landing on the beach on Roraia, Indonesia. Thor spent ten years with his theory that Polynesia was settled from Peru; not from Asia, the settled hypothesis at the time. Final proof came via the 1947 voyage on a raft using the same 1500 year old techniques of navigation and raft construction. While this may sound a bit dry, it is not. The passion of the participants is palpable. Each has their own reason for going on the journey; most simply falling under Heyerdahl's charisma. (Heyerdahl's 1950 documentary won the Academy Award, and remains the only Norwegian winner of an Academy Award to date.)

Though not cast based simply on physical looks (per the co-directors), several are magnificent specimens of blond 1940s fit men...and their bonding.

Every scene was filmed first in Norwegian, then in English; (US release of the English version seen is expected by the Weinstein group later in 2013.) Filming was 59 days in six countries. Audience reaction of the PSIFF screening was loudly appreciated followed with Q&A with the co-directors.