Did you watch the Oscars last Sunday?
This year, many nordmenn were following the American movie award show with a lot of spenning (excitement). Hvorfor? (Why?) Perhaps you noticed that a Norwegian film had been nominated in the category ”Best Foreign Language Film”…

In Kon-Tiki the regissører (directors) Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg recreate the famous Kon-Tiki Expedition. In 1947, the Norwegian oppdagelsesreisende (explorer, ”discovery traveller”) Thor Heyerdahl achieved global berømmelse (fame) as he and five friends sailed all the way from South America to Polynesia in the Pacific – on a tømmerflåte (raft)! In 101 days, the six adventurers managed to cross around 7000 km (4,300 miles) of Stillehavet (the Pacific Ocean). The aim was to prove Heyerdahl’s theory that the first inhabitants of Påskeøya (the Easter Island) could plausibly have come from Søramerika.

Kon-Tiki is a word that fills many Norwegians with a sense of adventure and greatness. It was the name Heyerdahl gave to his raft, and to the book and documentary film he made about his expedition. In fact, this film won an Oscar in 1951! – If you go to Oslo, you should definitely visit Kon-Tiki-museet (the Kon-Tiki museum) on the island of Bygdøy.

With the help of modern computer effects, it has finally been possible to recreate Heyerdahl’s ekspedisjon [expediSHON] for det hvite lerret (the silver screen). The new Kon-Tiki was filmed in Malta, starring Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen as Thor Heyerdahl, with Agnes Kittelsen as his kjæreste (girlfriend) Liv.

The film was given excellent anmeldelser (reviews) in Norway, where it became the most watched movie of 2012, even ahead of Hollywood. (Almost 900,000 went to see it, that’s about one fifth of the population!)

Unfortunately, Kon-Tiki did not win the prestigious statuette. The Oscar for best fremmedspråklige film went to ”Amour” by William Haneke from Austria.