Kon-Tiki (1950)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Thor Heyerdahl

Writer:

Thor Heyerdahl (writer)

Release Date:

13 January 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

SIX MEN ON A RAFT ACROSS THE PACIFIC! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A documentary about the Kon-Tiki expedition of the norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahls.

Plot Keywords:

Expedition | Theory | Island | Raft | South America

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Thor Heyerdahl	...	Himself - Narrator (Scandinavian, US versions)
Herman Watzinger	...	Himself
Erik Hesselberg	...	Himself
Knut Haugland	...	Himself
Torstein Raaby	...	Himself
Bengt Danielsson	...	Himself
Ben Grauer	...	Narrator (US introductory sequence) (voice)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

Norway | Sweden

Language:

Norwegian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #15143) | Finland:S | Norway:A

Filming Locations:

Peru

Company:

Artfilm

Trivia:

The first Norwegian movie to win an Oscar. Norway has won only one other time. It was in 2007 for the short animated film The Danish Poet.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Tiny Toon Adventures: Kon Ducki (#2.11)" (1992)

A fabulous adventure arising from a radical idea

The tweedy professor-types thought they had it all figured out. Today's peoples who inhabit Polynesia descended from migratory Asians, intrepidly moving from the Far East, island to island, eastward into Tahiti and all the other exotic tropic isles of the South Pacific over thousands of years. But the established thinking just didn't sit well with young Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl. If that explanation were true, how come some folks born and bred in those islands have traditions, artwork, and physical features resembling not those from Asia, but South America? How can the vegetation of Ecuador, Peru and Chile look so much like what you'd find on the island several thousand miles away? Is it just a coincidence that the Islanders point out to sea in the direction of South America and say that is where their ancestors came from, led by Tiki, their equivalent of Adam? Meanwhile, how is it Norwegians speak of Scandanavian forerunners who were chased from the South American continent they had colonized, and, together with some of the native peoples they befriended, set off over the sea -- heading WEST? It's all too much to be a coincidence to Heyerdahl. With an amazing amount of moxie, a handful of crewmen, and the local know-how for traditional raft-building, an expedition begins. It's as much a trip into the human imagination as it is a pseudo-scientific demonstration that such a journey is possible with only the very basics of tools and seamanship. The Oscar-winning documentary may be dated in its tone and Anglo-ethnocentric approach, but it soars with a spirit of adventure besting even the space program that launched a decade later, as men are willing to risk it all to test a theory they think is true. Wonderful. Do yourself a favor and read the book first. It is an amazing page-turner and the perfect setup for the newsreel-style movie.