One of the five of this year’s nominees for the foreign film Oscar is Norway’s seafaring adventure Kon-Tiki. The epic film follows Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdal portrayed by Nordic Ryan Gosling doppleganger Pal Sverre Hagen and his journey across the Pacific on a wooden raft.
The Weinstein Company-backed the picture based on the true story from Petter Skavlan and released the first official domestic trailer.
Kon-Tiki was helmed by directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandbergand and also stars Gustaf Skarsgard, Odd Magnus Williamson and Anders Baasmo Christensen.
Heyerdahl was an ethnographer who wished to demonstrate diffusionist anthropology theories by sailing from Peru to the Polynesian islands (over 4,000 miles) on the small Kon-Tiki raft.
Could the film achieve similar success in the U.S. as in Norway, we’ll see when Kon-Tiki hit theaters, starting April 26th, 2013, but that might change if it wins at the Oscars.
Watch the official trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNlYersZhaI
From his days living in the Marquesas with his wife Liv, Thor suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by ancient South Americans from thousands of miles to the east. Despite his inability to swim and fear of water, Thor decides to prove his theory by sailing the legendary voyage himself. After replicating the design of an ancient raft in balsa wood, Thor and five fellow adventurers set sail from Peru. Their only modern equipment is a radio, and they take a parrot along for company. A natural leader, Thor uses the stars and the ocean’s current to navigate the raft. After three dangerous months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, sharks, and all the dangers the Ocean can muster, the exhausted crew sight Polynesia and make a triumphant landing. Having sacrificed everything for his mission, even his marriage, the success of the Kon-Tiki expedition proves bittersweet for Thor.
