2012 ( UK | Norway | Denmark | Germany | Sweden ) ( Adventure, History )
STARRING: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård
DIRECTORs: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg
This dramatisation tells the true story of the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s epic 1947 voyage across the Pacific on a Balsa-wood raft. At the mercy of the prevailing winds and ocean currents, their make-shift craft drifted rather than sailed towards its assumed destination. Lashed by storms, out of radio contact for long periods of time, almost capsized by an over-curious whale, and later attacked by blood-frenzied sharks, the raft and its crew are held together by a wing and a prayer. And the close-quartered conditions aboard the raft exacerbate the conflicts and tensions between the diverse crew members.
Brilliantly shot in a rugged National Geographic-like way, it captures the sailors’ feelings of both awe and terror about their self-inflicted predicament . Kon-Tiki is a throwback to old-school adventure film-making that’s both exciting and entertaining.
.(1hr 58min)