Kon-Tiki

Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg – 2012 – Norway

In 1947, the Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl, despite being unable to swim, undertook a voyage across the Pacific by primitive raft, along a current he believed led directly from Peru to Polynesia.  The experience was turned into a bestselling book and an Oscar-winning documentary, both also entitled Kon-Tiki.  This dramatic film of the story is a very handsome period adventure that recaptures the romance of science and exploration that Heyerdahl was responsible for popularizing in the 50s, 60s and 70s along with Jacques Cousteau, Carl Sagan, Richard Leakey and others.  The treatment is quite a bit on the predictable side; not just because of the retelling of well-known events but because of the routine way Rønning  and Sandberg choose to depict their scenes.  It’s too full of situations that write themselves; the quirky scientist trying to persuade skeptical potential backers, the longsuffering wife who just wants him to stay home, etc.  It’s also the kind of film where you can tell that the cinematographer is a film-school grad who has hijacked the production in order to ensure that every indoor shot moves on a dolly track and that every outdoor shot is speckled with lens flairs.  That’s distracting, but fortunately the sheer suspense of the ocean sequences is so compelling that you’re able to forget the unimaginative shooting style.  Something that really struck me was the remarkable effects depicting the creatures of the deep; whales, crabs, bioluminescent fish, and especially sharks.  The use of CGI here is more appropriate and convincing than in any Hollywood movie I’ve seen.