Kon-Tiki

Product Description Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) crossed the Pacific ocean in a balsa wood raft in 1947, together with five men, to prove that South Americans already back in pre-Columbian times could have crossed the sea and settle on Polynesian islands. After gathering financing for the trip with loans and donations, they set off on an epic 101 day-long journey across 8,000 kilometers, all while the world was watching. KON-TIKI tells about the origin of Heyerdahl’s idea and the events surrounding the group’s voyage. Amazon.com The dangers of the high seas have rarely been rendered as vivid and thrilling as in Kon-Tiki, the 2012 movie version of Thor Heyerdahl's famous and acclaimed autobiographical tale. Heyerdahl (Pål Hagen), an ethnographer and explorer convinced that the Polynesian islands were colonized by natives from South America, sets out to prove his thesis by sailing on a raft from Peru to the South Pacific. With five friends, some he's known for years and some he's recently met, he constructs his raft as it might have been made by Neolithic peoples, and sets off into the ocean. Kon-Tiki depicts the most dramatic moments of the expedition with lush and vivid cinematography, evocative sound, and compelling performances. Encounters with sharks and rough weather will stir up primal responses in viewers--the movie does a superb job of putting the audience on the boat (and in the water) with the sailors, nicely balancing narrative with gorgeous spectacle. Kon-Tiki is a satisfying reminder that, in this age of overblown intergalactic battles and crime stories, the basic conflicts of humans and nature can still seize the imagination. --Bret Fetzer