Kon-Tiki (Joechim Ronning,2012): Denmark, Norway,UK

Reviewed by Jian Gedrick at Metro 4 Theater, Santa Barbara CA

I didn’t know what to expect when I was about to see film”Kon-Tiki”. I was advised by the volunteers of the Santa Barbara Film Festival to view this film because the other showings were completely full. I only had  knowledge that it was an Oscar-nominee. I found myself being thoroughly entertained throughout the entire movie.

“Kon-Tiki” is based on the true story of Norwegian adventurer, Thor Heyerdahl, who after spending time in Polynesia with his wife, begins to notice a relationship between Polynesian folklore and the land of Peru. When the locals in the village tell him of the worshipped God and the direction he led his people he becomes completely convinced the settlers of Polynesia originated in South America. Because his discovery is proposed during the World War II era, it becomes quite an obstacle to get his theory accepted by other anthropologists in the U.S.. The belief is that the ancient islanders originated from Asia and crossed over the Bering Strait. Having any theory contradicting that belief is destined to be rejected and fall into obscurity, unless he can physically prove it by re-enacting the expedition himself.

Thor manages building a raft with the same materials the Polynesians used and plans on making a daring voyage  across the Atlantic, from Peru to Polynesia. He assembles a crew of fellow Norwegians and sets sail, confident the worst will not happen during the voyage. Along the way the way the difficulties of being out at sea for over 100 days begins showing their true colors.

“Kon-Tiki” is inspiring because of the true story it is based on, but it ends up achieving titillating the viewer visually. The scenes of a whale shark, the raft being illuminated at night by the stars and the moon, bioluminescent plankton, close encounters with sharks, (though in some shots the shark animation doesn’t work as well with other shots) and beautiful shots of the Polynesian islands depicted in the movie. It’s ultimately an adventure movie of a man willing to face the treacherous unknown at all costs.

As shown in the beginning of the movie Thor has an instinct to do the most daring even if it means putting his life at stake. The movie starts off with him as a young boy retrieving an object on a floating block of ice. Despite not knowing how to swim he remains calm throughout the whole task, even as the block breaks and he is submerged under the ice cold water before his friends pull him to safety. Evidently, the experience hasn’t really changed him because he continues to test a hand built raft across the Atlantic, yet still hasn’t learned how to swim even though he’s now a grown man in his thirties.

Joachim Ronning offers to take the viewer along for the adventure by dazzling them with incredible cinematography and effects. There are, however,  very cliche cinematic devices used in order to propel the adventure story. Before the raft sets sail, Thor finds a small crab on one of the ropes and places it on one of the logs and proceeds to have a corny moment where he tells the  crab about t the adventure it is about to have with Thor and his crew for this 100- day voyage. Sharks are also portrayed as aggressive machines and seem oblivious with huge disturbances from splashes in the water. Some of the timing with the unusually vicious sharks in the movie seems inconsistent as the characters are able to survive them despite highly improbable circumstances. The statue of Polynesian god also, is depicted with cheesy music, rain thunder and lightning.

“Kon-Tiki” begins and ends with the same shot of Thor, one as a boy and one as a man, approaching the camera from a far distance until the viewer is pierced by his intense blue eyes, engaging in a daring feat in order to enhance his human spirit. “Kon-Tiki” is a fine adventure film that uses Thor’s audacity to create it’s vision. It is a film that stirs the external senses then the internal ones.