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The Grand Suggests: Kon-Tiki

Thor Heyerdahl sails into The Grand Cinema

"Kon-Tiki" is a grand story, told again.

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The biopic can be a tricky thing. Many of the genre's offerings take artistic license beyond its proper boundaries, placing an overly-sanctified and sanitized protagonist into an overly-sentimental and idealized period in history, often resulting in a film that plays more like a "director's cut" of the subject's life rather than an accurate account. I can happily say that such is not the case with Norwegian director Joachim Rønning's Academy Award-nominated film Kon-Tiki.

The film chronicles famed Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 sailing expedition from Callao, Peru to French Polynesia's Tuamotu Archipelago, covering some 4,300 miles of the Pacific Ocean over the course of 101 days; a feat which Heyerdahl and crew attempted using state-of-the-art seafaring technology ... from 1,500 years ago.  You read that right: Heyerdahl and his five-man, (and one-parrot), crew crossed over 4,000 miles of harsh, unforgiving ocean in a balsa wood raft, (the titular Kon Tiki), held together with little more than hemp cord and crossed fingers in an attempt to prove the possibility that South Americans could have settled in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

Pål Sverre Hagen's Heyerdahl is far from the idealized protagonist you might expect. He seems a clean-cut, amiable enough fellow, and yet the viewer is ultimately left unsure whether to laud or criticize his frenzied determination to test his hypothesis.  Heyerdahl's colleagues largely echo the audience's sentiments, dismissing Heyerdahl's theory as an absolute impossibility. Financial backers are hesitant to fund the expedition, and potential crewmembers are reluctant to sign on, both considering the proposed voyage to be little more than a very elaborate and expensive suicide.  Indeed it seems, perhaps rightfully so, that the whole world wishes to thwart Heyerdahl's efforts before he so much as sets one toe in the water.

Heyerdahl's sole initial supporter is his friend Herman Watzinger. Anders Baasmo Christiansen plays the engineer-turned-explorer as the more-reserved foil to Hagen's manic adventurer, having the same goals, but also acting as the voice of reason, (or wet blanket, depending on your view). The two play off each other like old friends, but one can't help but view them as a seafaring "Felix and Oscar" at times.

Agnes Kittelsen turns in a stirring portrayal as Heyerdahl's wife, Liv. She serves as a continuous reminder that Heyerdahl is risking far more than just life and limb in the name of proving his theories. Kittelsen provides much-needed respites from Heyerdahl's voyage and a pleasant change of scenery from the ocean as Liv Heyerdahl remains safely on land in Lillehammer for much of the film. 

Kon-Tiki is an absolute feast for the eyes with vast, beautiful shots of the Blue Pacific that completely immerse and isolate the viewer in the film's seemingly infinite expanse of ocean; something that the viewer may come to regret when the ocean's less-friendly denizens decide to investigate Heyerdahl's increasingly fragile raft.

Stellar performances and stunning visuals round out this tale of man's indomitable will and determination pitted against the majesty and brutality of nature.

KON-TIKI, opening Friday, May 31, The Grand Cinema, 606 S Fawcett Ave., Tacoma $4.50-$9, 253.593.4474

Jared Lovrak is a volunteer at The Grand Cinema and an avid cinephile

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