Kon-Tiki

Torstein Raaby:
And only a hundred days to go.

Torstein Raaby:
[Seeing that Bengt is throwing a dusts in the water] Why are feeding the sharks our tomato soup?

Bengt Danielsson:
It's shark repellent from the Americans.

Torstein Raaby:
[ironic] No, it's tomato soup.

Bengt Danielsson:
[confused after to relish the dusts with a finger] Where's the shark repellent?

Torstein Raaby:
[funny] Well, apparently we ate that.

Herman Watzinger:
[about the ropes that keep united the raft] It's our only chance. Our only hope now is to try and reinforce the ropes. Tighten up everything again.

Thor Heyerdahl:
Herman... We have built this raft just like Tiki did, and he made it there. And so will we. This is the faith we have.

Herman Watzinger:
Faith? This isn't a religion Thor. This is... insanity.

Thor Heyerdahl:
This is bigger than us.

Herman Watzinger:
Please. Look at the logs. Feel how your raft is moving.

Thor Heyerdahl:
Tiki knew.

Herman Watzinger:
My God!, you understand nothing? There's no one here except you who believes in Tiki!

Thor Heyerdahl:
No? [makes a pause. He looks everybody] Then what the hell are you doing here?

Thor Heyerdahl:
[sitting with Herman in a roof top at night] Cheers!

Herman Watzinger:
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.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[serious] No one can save us out there. You get that?

Herman Watzinger:
Except your theory. Captain.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[ironic] You will definitely not freeze your leg off. I can promise that.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[Meeting all in the bay] This is Herman Watzinger, my second in command. For the simple reason that without him no one could have been first in command. Herman these are my two fantastic radio operators: Torstein. War Hero, nerves of asbestos. As far as we know, he has only two weaknesses: whiskey and women - Knut Haugland, also a war hero, and I know Knut hates me for saying it, but I must be allowed to call him a legend. That is what you are, Knut - Erik Hesselberg...

Erik Hesselberg:
[ironic] No legend.

Thor Heyerdahl:
...but you have saved my life. Erik and I grew up together in Larvik. Erik has one unique skill that we are going to appreciate. Erik has been at sea before. I'm sure you have some questions...

Erik Hesselberg:
[Walking toward Thor] Maybe I should introduce you first. This is Thor. A pompous, self-centered weirdo, but a very good leader. And because he is, we are about to do what Tiki did 1500 years ago. We are going to...

Thor Heyerdahl:
We will build a raft.

Erik Hesselberg:
And...

Thor Heyerdahl:
[laughling] And drift into the sunset.

Torstein Raaby:
[curious] Where is the raft?

Thor Heyerdahl:
[ironic] You're sitting on it.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[Radiotyping to mainland] Early man did not see the oceans as a barrier but rather as a means of communication. This is science that can not be done behind a desk or by a committee. That a 1500 year old civilization. Possessed maritime and navigational skills to successfully maneuver a balsa wood raft over 5,000 miles. We are using the same stars as they did.

Torstein Raaby:
[all six lying on the raft, looking the starry night sky] It's as if we're the only people left in the universe.

Bengt Danielsson:
Maybe we are. Maybe they've dropped bombs on eachother. And every city is like Hiroshima.

Erik Hesselberg:
[suspicious] I doubt we would have had radio contact Bengt.

Thor Heyerdahl:
Maybe we've just been accepted. By nature. That we've become like a seagull or a fish.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[almost finishing their travel] We have traveled over 8000 kilometers, boys... but the fact is that the greatest danger is still ahead.

Herman Watzinger:
[sarcastic] People?

Thor Heyerdahl:
No: the Raroia Reef. It lies like a wall around the entire island, with sharp coral.

Torstein Raaby:
[worried] Why didn't you tell us?

Thor Heyerdahl:
[looking Raaby] It was impossible to know exactly where we would end up.

Freuchen:
[Talking about Thor's theories, rejected several times] Don't worry, Heyerdahl. Scientific Committees my ass. Am I right, McGregor, or am I right? [he realices that Herman Watzinger looks his wooden leg]

Freuchen:
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.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[Taking with two sailors in a bar, showing them a drawn about a raft] 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.

Sailor:
[angry] I spent 22 days on a raft. We have torpedoed. North Atlantic, winter of '43. You 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.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[ashamed] Thank you for your time.

Knut Haugland:
[after he saves Herman in the w?ter, both sit down on the raft] Three years ago, I shot four men. The Gestapo found me with a radio.

Herman Watzinger:
[laconic] It was war.

Knut Haugland:
That's what Torstein says. He helped sinking the Tirpitz, but that doesn't bother him. Thank you.

Herman Watzinger:
[confused] You're the one who saved my life.

Knut Haugland:
That's what I mean. Thank you.

Knut Haugland:
[about how to avoid Raroia Reef to arrive mainland] What alternatives do we have?

Herman Watzinger:
We could try to surf over.

Knut Haugland:
[skeptic] Surf?

Herman Watzinger:
[taking paper and pen to drawn it] Yes. Waves come in cycles of 13. Every 13th wave is substantially greater than the ther. When we are close to the reef we throw out an anchor, something heavy that can keep the raft in place.

Erik Hesselberg:
And then?

Herman Watzinger:
Then we count the waves. And just before the 13th wave we cut the rope, and hopefully, surf over the reef. It could work.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[looking Herman] I like it. Let's do it. That's what we'll do.

Liv Heyerdahl:
[Thor reads a Liv's letter. Liv voice-over] My love Thor. You made it. You proved what Tei told us that night on Fatu Hiva. You don't need to learn how to swim. Should you fall in the water, you would float on willpower alone. As you might have understood, I'm not in Tahiti waiting for you. Because what was supposed to be our lives, turned out to just be yours. You are who you are. And you're going to spend the rest of your life chasing sunsets. Thor, this wasn't about exploring the Pacific Ocean. More important than going, was why you had to go. Why you couldn't stop yourself from putting everything behind you, steering towards the unknown. But that is you, my beloved Thor. And the irony is that what I love you the most for is what drove us apart. Liv.

Epilogue:
Bengt fell in love with Polynesia. He settled there and became a Consul General of Sweden. He died in 1997.

Epilogue:
Erik built himself a sailboat, that became his home for 11 years. He worked as an artist until his death in 1972.

Epilogue:
Torstein kept going on expeditions. He died in 1964 during an attempt to reach the North Pole on skis.

Epilogue:
Knut resumed his career in military intelligence. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Kon-Tiki museum. He died the Christmas of 2009.

Epilogue:
Herman became the director of UN's Food and Agriculture organization. He died at Titica lake in 1986.

Epilogue:
Thor wrote a book about Kon-Tiki. It was translated to over 70 languages, and sold over 50 million copies. The documentary about the expedition won an Oscar. Liv and Thor divorced after the Kon-Tiki expedition. Their boys lived with Liv, who later moved to the US where she died in 1969. Thor continued his work as an experimental archaeologist, author and explorer. He died in 2002.

Bustamente:
[Walking toward Thor, sit down on a bank] Mr. Heyerdahl?

Thor Heyerdahl:
[taking him wrongly by a waiter] Just a glass of water, please.

Bustamente:
I'm Jos? Bustamante.

[Peru's president]

Thor Heyerdahl:
[standing up fastly] Your Excellency. Thank you for seeing me.

Bustamente:
What can I do for you?

Thor Heyerdahl:
Actually, I'm here to tell you about something I can do for you.

Bustamente:
And what might that be?

Thor Heyerdahl:
By crossing the Pacific for 5,000 miles. I will prove that Peruvian natives were the first to settle Polynesia.

Bustamente:
[surprised] What? Peruvians discovered Polynesia? And how may I help you?

Spinden:
[about Thor's theories] The wise men of anthropology are quite clear that Polynesia was not populated from the east.

Thor Heyerdahl:
Wise men are not always right, Sir.

Spinden:
[In Spinden's office] 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.

Thor Heyerdahl:
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.

Spinden:
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.

Thor Heyerdahl:
Yes, that scientific publishing is completely closed to new ideas. It tells me that when you ignore evidence, nothing...

Spinden:
[angry] Listen to me! You claim that the Peruvian pre-Inca civilization was remarkable.

Thor Heyerdahl:
I agree.

Spinden:
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!

Thor Heyerdahl:
No. But they had rafts. They had balsa wood rafts.

Spinden:
[suspicious] 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!

Thor Heyerdahl:
[Talking with three National Geographic's members] 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. [pointing it in a map behind him]

Committee Member:
You'll have some sort of engine in case of emergency?

Thor Heyerdahl:
No. Absolutely not. We will surrender to the current and the wind... like Tiki did.

Committee Member:
[curious] And by undertaking this extraordinary voyage, you are proving?

Thor Heyerdahl:
That the oceans were not barriers, but roads. Not impediments, but pathways. I will prove that South American people sailed to Polynesia...

Committee Member:
[refused] Every schoolboy knows that Polynesia was peopled from Asia, not South America.

Thor Heyerdahl:
And it is my job as a scientist to prove those schoolboys, and those who quote them, wrong. [turning to the map] Ancient man, being sun worshipers...

Committee Member:
[interrupting Thor] Mr. Heyerdahl. Doubtless the story of Norwegians drowning in the pacific will sell a lot of magazines. But not this one.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[angry] This is a scientific expedition!

Committee Member:
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.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[talking with an old man in Fatu Hiva] Tei? Where did your ancestors come from?

Tei:
We believe that Tiki - Tiki, the sun god - took us to these islands from the land behind the sea.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[surprised] From east? "L'est?"

Tei:
Everything comes from the east. Ocean currents, wind and sun. Tiki navigated towards the sun.

Thor Heyerdahl:
[amazed] Tiki!

Thor Heyerdahl:
[reading a book] Liv? Listen to this: "The Faa-hoka is the Marquisian variety of pineapple. It was found in abundance by the first European explorers".

Liv Heyerdahl:
[confused] Same pineapple?

Thor Heyerdahl:
Yes. That really belongs in South America.

Liv Heyerdahl:
Perhaps it can swim?