Kon-Tiki (1950)

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Movie
German title Kon-Tiki
The greatest adventure of our day KON-TIKI
Original title Kon-Tiki
Country of production Norway
original language Norwegian
Publishing year 1950
length 77 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Thor Heyerdahl
script Thor Heyerdahl
production Thor Heyerdahl
Olle Nordemar
music Sune Waldimir
camera Knut Haugland
Erik Hesselberg
Thor Heyerdahl
Torstein Raaby
Herman Watzinger
cut Olle Nordemar
occupation

Kon-Tiki is a Norwegian documentary about the Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947 and the Norwegian explorer, adventurer and writer Thor Heyerdahl . Heyerdahl produced the film together with Olle Nordemar . The documentary won two Oscars in 1952 in the categories of " Best Documentary " (for the producer and the camera).

In the same year, the film was nominated by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for the British Academy Film Award in the category “ Best Non-English Language Film ”.

prehistory

Thor Heyerdahl: A statement.

Heyerdahl writes about this in his memoir "In Adam's Footsteps" (1998; German 2000). that the first presentation of the footage was a nightmare : several film producers had shown great interest at first, which led the Norwegian embassy to hold a screening for the most important potential buyers. Only then did it become apparent that a large part of the material was unusable - partly spoiled by water, partly overexposed or underexposed, and "the rest" (according to Heyerdahl) erroneously recorded in slow motion. The movements of the camera caused by the swell were also hardly bearable. In the end, only one of the buyers remained in the hall, offering a full 200 dollars to use the usable material for a perhaps ten-minute short documentary in the sales department of RKO Pictures . Understandably, this was rejected.

First, Heyerdahl decided to cut the silent film himself - together with a friend - (according to Heyerdahl in a New York hotel room), which turned out to be inadequate due to a lack of specialist knowledge, but at least produced a copy that was made in the Explorers Club , of which Heyerdahl has been the youngest member his work at Bella Coola and his experience at Fatu Hiva was acclaimed.

After the film was shown at Heyerdahl's many lectures about the expedition, the Swede Count Lennart Bernadotte noticed it and proposed a collaboration. Lennart and his friend Olle Nordemar ran a small film production company that had the latest equipment, namely Europe's first optical printer . This equipment could not only enlarge individual images from a film strip and straighten them if necessary, but also correct incorrect speeds and other errors in the recordings. Heyerdahl had with Gf. Lennart signed a handwritten contract in Norwegian and Swedish that "fit on a piece of paper" and guaranteed him 50% of his profit. Lennart, however, sold the film, again on a 50:50 percent basis, to Sol Lesser , Hollywood, producer of the Tarzan films, who in turn passed it on to the film distributor RKO for 50:50.

content

Still from the film

At the beginning of the film, Thor Heyerdahl explains his theory that Polynesia could be settled by South America 1500 years ago, which was in stark contrast to the previously established scientific opinion about immigration from Asia. Heyerdahl supports his theory with diagrams, shows sequences of the construction of the raft and the start of the Callao expedition .

Photos were also incorporated into the black and white film if the corresponding film material was spoiled. The footage was shot with a single 16mm camera that was used by any member of the team as the occasion dictated.

The US version is commented on by TV and radio host Ben Grauer and co-producer Sol Lesser .

Bell & Howell film camera of the expedition

aftermath

In 1955 Heyerdahl presented another documentary film on the same topic, Galapagos .

In 2012, the Hollywood-style film drama about Heyerdahl and this expedition, again called Kon-Tiki , was produced in Norway . Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg , Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen played the main role of Heyerdahl .

The less well-known film documentation of the Tangaroa experiment , 2006, is more factually relevant . In addition to observing marine pollution, they also wanted to investigate how well Inca rafts could be controlled using guaras (stick swords) and whether it might even be possible to show up. A grandson of Heyerdahl, Olav, son of "Thor Jr.", also took part in this expedition. Tangaroa reached Raroia again from Callao in just 70 days. The subsequent crossing of the Tuamotus to the Raiatea destination also went smoothly and proved that the raft was easy to steer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heyerdahl: In Adam's footsteps p. 224ff; Heyerdahl did not appear at the award ceremony because he was struggling for his reputation as a scientist. The award was later presented to him by Sol Lesser , producer of the Tarzan films, who had meanwhile started producing Kon-Tiki, in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo.
  2. ↑ Bosley Crowther: NY Times: Kon-Tiki . In: NY Times . Retrieved November 8, 2008. 
  3. ↑ Heyerdahl; In Adam's footsteps, p. 223ff
  4. ↑ The Kon-Tiki crew had no sailing skills. The function of the guaras was only recognized so late that the boards were now so overgrown with mussels that they could hardly be moved.
  5. ↑ youtube