Kon-Tiki
/3rd of 365
What are lengths people go to just to say they were right? That would be the correct Jeopardy question to Kon-Tiki. Based on a true story1 the movie starts with Thor in Polynesia with his wife. While they are fishing in the ocean his wife comments that it must of been difficult for someone to row against the current from Asia to Polynesia.
This piques his interest and asks the locals where they believe their people originated. The wise man informs him that Tiki came from the east and he followed the sunset. Everything came from the east, the current, the sun, and Tiki.
Thor Heyerdale was unable to publish his theory that the Peruvians traveled to Polynesia to settle. No publisher believed his theory because the Peruvians did not have any boats. They did have rafts, so his decision was to take a basalt wood raft and sail across the Pacific ocean with 6 men. 2
The movie picks up and is a thrilling adventure. There are some beautiful shots that would be even more impressive if The Life of Pi hadn't already taken the most beautiful ocean shots in 2012. Kon-Tiki was a 2012 movie that was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film even though they speak English throughout. 3
Each crew member makes there own mistakes, but Thor is a psychopath. He will not listen to reason and has a blind faith in his theory. He is painted as a hero, but really he is a crazy guy who happens to be right.
Judgement: See it in the Theater. 1. [See the Full Documentary if you have Amazon Prime]↩ 2. [Only one had sailing experience and Thor couldn't swim.]↩ 3. [My biggest issue with the movie was that it was in English. I'm not sure why a Norwegian with a bunch of Scandinavians on his crew would speak English. It was distracting.]↩