Kon-Tiki (2012) on Netflix
PG-1320121h 58mAdventureHistory
Thor Heyerdahl argues that South Americans settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Dismissed by experts, he builds the Kon-Tiki, a balsa raft, and sets out from Peru with five companions.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.1/1054,927 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes81%
Trailer
Plot summary
Thor Heyerdahl, an ethnographer and adventurer, argues that the first settlers of Polynesia came from South America. Most scholars of his day place the islands' origins in Asia, and the American anthropologist Herbert Spinden rejects his case outright. Heyerdahl points to likenesses between South American statues and the moai of Easter Island, and to island folklore about the Hanau epe, a tribe said to have lived there. To show that the crossing was possible with the materials of 1,500 years earlier, he has a balsa raft built after the old methods and named for the Inca sun god Viracocha. Though he can neither swim nor sail, he leaves Peru with five companions, among them Herman Watzinger, Knut Haugland and Bengt Danielsson, and a macaw called Lorita, while at home his wife Liv grows estranged from his ambition.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Kon-Tiki (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kon-Tiki was shot simultaneously in Norwegian and English, with every scene filmed twice, first in Norwegian and then in English, producing two versions of the film: one for the Norwegian market and one for international audiences.
- Against the advice of many, the Kon-Tiki filmmakers shot the ocean scenes on the open ocean rather than on a set, insisting the "unique challenges" of shooting at sea strengthened the film.
- Kon-Tiki was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and Golden Globe, giving Norway its fifth Academy Award nomination and marking the first time a Norwegian film had been nominated for both prizes.
- The book illustration the film's crew consult about the Galapagos maelstrom is actually artist Harry Clarke's 1919 illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's short story "A Descent Into the Maelström", a whirlpool tale set in Norwegian waters, and the maelstrom's roar is taken directly from Poe.
- The scenes of Heyerdahl's experiences on Fatu Hiva were shot in Thailand using Thai extras who do not resemble native Polynesians and who are shown with spears and rattan baskets that are not native to French Polynesia.
