Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
True Life Sea Adventure, January 20, 2001
I have just finished viewing the 1997 commemorative edition (Janson Associates, NJ) of this 1952 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It is 58 minutes of actual black and white footage taken by the crew of the Kon-Tiki. Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian biologist, had suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east. He knew that the trade winds and ocean currents off the South-American coastline bear in the direction of Polynesia. The film shows how his team harvested balsa from Quito, took these huge logs to Peru and built a raft according to the traditions of pre-Columbian S.A. Indians. There are no nails on this craft; everything is tied by rope. Heyerdahl's team embarked on a 101 day of ocean voyage, often surrounded by sharks, sometimes whales so close they could look down their blow holes. How and what they ate and how they charted their journey is fascinating. The trip almost ends in disaster because of the coral reefs surrounding the Polynesian islands when they finally encounter land. It is a gripping and informative documentary and worth the Academy award.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great disappointment, December 18, 2003
This review is from: Kon-Tiki (DVD)
Another Image Entertainment release, another disappointment. From the fact that there is no menu...and no extras...to the fact that this is not the complete original release (this is the edited television release), this is yet another loser from Image Entertainment. The original release is 78 minutes long, and has different opening and closing credits. As for the movie...it is interesting for one viewing, but the poor quality of the pictures (not up to the standards of Thor's later movie "RA Expeditions") make it unlikely you will want to see it more than once. My suggestion...stick with the book.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a must for all Kon-Tiki fans, May 21, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Kon-Tiki (DVD)
Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki" was one of my favourite childhood books. I read it many times (every time I had to stay in bed because of sickness) and always was glad to come back, sit on that bamboo deck and watch the Pacific waves. There was something truly magical for me in an idea of that slow ocean-crossing to Polynesia. Now - 25years after I last read the book I had a chance to watch DVD. It speaks to me the same way book did. It is very low-tech, grainy black and white far below any modern standards for nature cinematography. But it has same spirit the book had - optimism, perserverence and love and respect for nature. I recommend that DVD to anybody that read the book.
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