In 1947, Norwegian ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl and a five man Scandinavian crew constructed a Stone Age raft and floated almost 5,000 miles from Peru to French Polynesia to prove his academic theory. Kon-Tiki tells the story of that voyage, which was a helluva challenge.
The balsa wood raft was tied together with indigenous fibers. The crew had an intermittently operable radio, a sextant, some canned food and little other modern technology. The raft could not be steered, so there were many nerve-wracking days when they were drifting toward a current headed the wrong way. There were storms, sharks and all the usual hazards (except for Life of Pi’s tiger in the boat). The crew gets more and more sunburned and their blond beards grow bushier and bushier.
It’s a good story, but not really suspenseful. After all, Heyerdahl’s book about the expedition sold millions of copies, especially to boys of the Baby Boom generation (like me), and his documentary on the voyage won an Oscar in 1951. So it’s not really a spoiler to acknowledge that they made it safely to their destination.
Kon-Tiki portrays Heyerdahl as an affable but testosterone-fueled guy with unflinching (and oft misplaced) confidence that everything is going to work out for him. As a result, he recklessly puts at risk his life and his crew’s (as well as his marriage). It’s a mildly interesting characterization. As they say, it’s better to be lucky than good.
So Kon-Tiki is okay. I just wish it had acknowledged and addressed this fact: Heyerdahl was wrong. His theory that ancient Peruvians floated west and settled Polynesia flew in the face of nearly all anthropological, linguistic and archaeological evidence. Since the 1940s, of course, new scientific tools have been discovered, and DNA analysis now confirms that he was entirely, utterly, completely wrong. And, because he lived until 2002, Heyerdahl had to know it or live in ridiculous denial. So why not make a film about a guy who endures an amazing, life-risking ordeal just to find out that it was all in vain? I think that would have made the film more memorable.