Kon-Tiki

Thor!

Thor!

It's dangerous!

Thor!

Thor, don't do it!

Thor, you have to wait!

Thor, don't do it!

You can fall in the water!

Don't do it!

- Don't do it!

- Don't do it! Don't jump!

- Come back, Thor.

- Don't!

Thor!

Are you okay?

Cold ...

- I thought he was dead.

- Cold ...

You tried to impress your

friends, didn't you?

- Thank God Erik saved you.

- God had nothing to do with it.

I just don't get what drives

you to do these things.

I hope you've learned your lesson...

and can promise that you'll never

do something so dangerous again.

Promise?

Do you promise?

- Smile.

- No, there shouldn't be any smiling.

Just be yourself.

Monsieur!

Liv!

So, no smiling.

You look very handsome.

You will make

this island famous.

It's going to be just

as with Darwin and the Galapagos.

When people hear of Fatu Hiva

they'll think of one thing: Thor Heyerdahl.

You have to turn more towards the current.

Yeah, but it's heavy.

Didn't you say that the first

Polynesians came from the west?

Yeah.

Imagine paddling all the way from Asia.

Against the current.

They must have had strong arms.

Yes.

Are you ok?

I'm fine.

It's fine.

Liv?

Listen to this.

"The Faa-hoka is the Marquisian

variety of pineapple."

"It was found in abundance by

the first European explorers"

- Same pineapple?

- Yes.

That really belongs in

South America.

Perhaps it can swim?

Tei? Where did your

ancestors come from?

We believe that Tiki ...

Tiki, the sun god, ...

took us to these islands...

from the land behind the sea.

From east?

"L'est?"

Everything comes from the east.

Ocean currents, wind and sun.

Tiki navigated towards the sun.

Tiki!

AMERICA AND POLYNESIA:

A STUDY OF:

PREHISTORIC RELATIONS.

- So how long are you in New York?

- Leaving in a few days.

Going home for Christmas.

My name is Heyerdahl.

Thor Heyerdahl.

Yes You already said that.

The wise men of anthropology

are quite clear

that Polynesia was not

populated from the east.

Wise men are not always right, Sir.

Look around you.

Every book in here offers

some theory or another.

Most written by one man,

read by perhaps only ten...

of whom nine

disagree with the theory.

But my theory provides evidence

that Polynesia was settled from the east.

I've spent ten years writing

and researching my thesis.

I lived on Fatu Hiva.

Professor... I lived my theory.

What number am I?

How many publishers

have you seen before me?

I know you've been to Barbeau and

Benedict. I presume Meade and Hill-Tout.

All scientists assume the

world is waiting to hear from them.

The fact that I am your last

hope ought to tell you something.

Yes, that scientific publishing is

completely closed to new ideas.

It tells me that when you

ignore evidence, nothing...

Listen to me!

You claim that the Peruvian pre-Inca

civilization was remarkable.

I agree.

And that the prevailing winds and

currents in the Pacific down there...

move from east to west.

But, it is also the case that Tiki

could not have travelled to Polynesia

because his people had no boats!

No.

But they had rafts.

They had balsa wood rafts.

Rafts!

Now that would be evidence!

You want your theory to be accepted?

You want to be right? Then go ahead.

Drift from Peru to Polynesia

on a balsa wood raft.

Good luck!

Gentlemen.

Your magazine will

be with me on a raft.

At the mercy of the winds,

all the way to Polynesia.

It is further than

from Chicago to Moscow.

Here to here.

You'll have some sort of

engine in case of emergency?

No. Absolutely not. We will surrender

to the current and the wind...

like Tiki did.

And by undertaking this extraordinary

voyage, you are proving?

That the oceans were not

barriers, but roads.

Not impediments.

But pathways.

I will prove that South American

people sailed to Polynesia...

Every schoolboy knows that

Polynesia was peopled from Asia...

not South America.

And it is my job as a scientist...

to prove those schoolboys,

and those who quote them, wrong.

Ancient man ...

Being sun worshipers.

Mr Heyerdahl.

Doubtless the story of Norwegians

drowning in the pacific...

will sell a lot of magazines.

But not this one.

This is a scientific expedition...

Our magazine has a higher purpose than to

finance and enable men bent on suicide.

I doubt he'll have any success

recruiting anyone for such a voyage.

A dozen logs or so.

Big balsa wood logs.

And a hut for five crew.

All very capable, of course.

The mast. The rudder.

There you go.

The Kon-Tiki.

I spent 22 days on a raft.

Torpedoed.

North Atlantic, winter of '43.

Can't sail it. Or steer it.

All you can do is sit

there and wait to die.

These logs...

They are going to move against each

other in the waves...

and eventually they are going

to break the lashings.

And you will each be

sitting on a log floating...

your separate ways at the

mercy of the elements.

Thank you for your time.

Excuse me?

You're Norwegian, right?

I couldn't avoid hearing your

conversation in there.

- Are you a sailor?

- No. But I can tell neither are you.

It will lessen the resistance considerably.

We engineers just can't resist.

Are you an engineer?

Yes, but nowadays it's

mostly selling refridgerators.

Herman Watzinger.

Thor Heyerdahl.

And you are going sailing?

All indications in the same direction...

There is no doubt. It's entirely

possible to drift all the way there...

due to ocean currents.

It's the wind and current that's key...

I have one month to finance and get the

entire expedition ready. A lot to do.

- Mr. Heyerdahl, may I help you?

- We have an appointment.

The money ready before Christmas,

buying the balsa in January...

- Mr. Heyerdahl, you are not on the list!

- Look under his name then. Watzinger.

We build in March and sail in April.

Then arrive in August...

and hope the hurricane

season starts late.

- Peter Freuchen.

- We damn near died when zipper froze!

He is like the captain of this place.

Mr. Heyerdahl, you are

not allowed in here.

My friend from Fatu Hiva!

You look like a man who just got

dumped by a glossy magazine!

Thank you.

Don't worry, Heyerdahl.

Scientific Committees my ass.

- Am I right, McGregor, or am I right?

- Always. Of course.

Frostbite.

The winter of '24.

It taught me one thing.

Do as the natives do.

Down to the smallest detail.

Don't use nails if they used rope.

Don't use steel if they used bone.

It took their ancestors

Go with them.

And you just might hang on to your leg.

Cheers!

I'm 32 years old.

A refrigerator salesman,

in a broken marriage.

That's me.

I really want to join that raft.

I know it can be dangerous...

but if you only knew how dangerous

the refrigerator business was.

No one can save us out there.

You get that?

Except your theory.

Captain.

You will definitely not freeze

your leg off. I can promise that.

I'd like to change my

ticket to Oslo please.

- I want two tickets to Lima, Peru.

- And when would you like to travel.

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