There are stories I’ve never gotten my greedy little hands on simply because I figured they were “Dude books”.  Call of the Wild.  Treasure Island.  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  Anything by Ernest Hemingway (okay, that’s because I’m not a fan of his writing style.  And also, dudebook.)  Kon-Tiki was in there too, because I couldn’t see how a voyage across the ocean in a little raft could possibly appeal to me.  But if the book is as exciting as the movie Kon-Tiki, I owe that book a huge apology.  Huge.  This dramatic retelling of the story of one man’s quest to prove his theories makes me want to not only read the book, but see the original (Academy Award winning ) 1951 documentary.  Yeah, Kon-Tiki is that good.

 It’s just after World War II.  Naturalist, anthropologist and all-around adventure guy Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen, in all his retro/40s-era matinee idol glory) is in Polynesia studying life, the universe and everything.  The natives tell Thor that they arrived in Polynesia from the West.  But all the great Western minds had decided these natives arrived from the East.  I mean really; who could sail across that wide expanse of sea in only a lashed-together log raft?  Thor sees that as a gauntlet thrown, and decides to do just that.  With a small group of friends, he takes off from Peru to try to reach Polynesia as Tiki, the native god that islanders believe populated their islands, did.

But will he make it?  Considering this movie is based on the book written by Heyerdahl after his expedition, and that I’ve already referenced his documentary of said expedition?  You can pretty much guess that answer.  Still, as other great docudramas have done before (like Titanic, All The President’s Men, Schindler’s List, and Argo), Kon-Tiki keeps viewers invested in the characters/individuals by weaving together expert storytelling and stunning visuals.

 

Kon-Tiki may be compared to another adrift-at-sea story from 2012, The Life of Pi.  But as Pi delivered a preternatural beauty, Kon-Tiki gives it’s audience a more realistic but nonetheless awe-inspiring, vision.  Kon-Tiki also delivers real terror, fear and mystery, something that Pi jettisoned in it’s search for beauty.  Both films are definitely worthy of your time, but Kon-Tiki wins by a nose.  It’s Kon-Tiki’s realism that took my breath away in scenes where nature comes right up close to the men, like their meeting with the whale shark, or the absolutely nail-biting suspense of seeing Thor battle to get back to the ship when he’s being chased by a great white.  And let’s just say there’s a scene where the crew pull in a bigass fish, and the CGI is so realistic I gasped.  Good work y’all.

It’s not all gorgeous scenery; the interaction between the men is what drives this film.  When things begin to go pear-shaped, the men stop being polite and start getting real.  It’s The Real World: Middle Of Nowhere.  The actors — beautiful Nordic men, all — deliver brilliant performances, and I can damn well see why this film got a Best Foreign Film nod at last year’s Oscars.  (It lost out to crowd favorite Amour, which is a pity IMHO.)  Viewer’s probably won’t recognize the crew, but if you’ve seen the History Channel’s Vikings you may recognize eyeliner-lovin’ Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård; yes he’s Stellan’s son.)

Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg do a wonderful job of getting under viewers’ skin, making you scared when the characters are scared, happy when they’re happy, elated when they’re elated.  If that sounds easy, ask yourself; when was the last time you were truly invested in a story?  Y’know, when you held your fist to your mouth in terror, or threw up your hands in joy?  When you were rooting for everyone in a m to make it, including the non-human “actors” (I love you, little Peruvian crab.) Kon-Tiki did that for me.  So what did I think?  I loved it.  Dude book, with dudes bonding over danger…makes an awesome movie.