Sunday, November 25, 2018

Freely based on a true tiki

Watzinger (the real one)


“Kon-Tiki” is a 2012 Norwegian historical drama film about Thor Heyerdahl´s famous Kon-Tiki expedition, which took place in 1947. The film exists in two different versions, one with most of the dialogue in Norwegian, the other with dialogue in English.

Both Heyerdahl, the journey of Kon-Tiki and his later expeditions were world famous in their day, Heyerdahl becoming a virtual national hero in Norway. He was of course well known in Sweden, as well. I heard about the Kon-Tiki and Ra expeditions already as a kid. Ironically, Heyderdahl´s theories about trans-oceanic contact between ancient civilizations were rejected by the scientific community and remain so to this day. I also remember how Heyerdahl was dethroned a few years before his death when archeologists and others attacked his latest project, which was to prove that the Norse god Odin was a real historical person, hailing either from Azerbaijan or the Russian region around Azov (unless I´m mistaken, this is freely based on medieval Icelandic chronicler Snorri Sturluson´s claim that Odin came from Troy in Asia Minor). Heyderdahl´s idea that some of the ancient navigators were White Europeans ruling over Natives doesn´t exactly chime with the present ideological climate, either. Interesting fact: Graham Hancock claims to have known Heyerdahl…

Heyderdahl set out to prove that Polynesia was settled from South America rather than from Asia. To this end, he built a raft christened Kon-Tiki and recruited a small crew. The primitive raft then sailed from Peru all the way to French Polynesia. In 1950, Heyerdahl released his own documentary about the Kon-Tiki journey, which went on to win an Academy Award. Ironically, this old documentary (available on YouTube) is actually more interesting, and in its own way, more dramatic than the quasi-Hollywood drama “Kon-Tiki” from 2012. Some of the real action isn´t even included in the 2012 film, while other details are simply wrong (as in made up). In the film, Heyerdahl´s second-in-command aboard the raft, Herman Watzinger, is depicted as a cowardly fool who constantly disobeys direct orders, something which led to protests from his family in Norway. In reality, Watzinger was a stereotypically Aryan-looking former elite soldier and athletics champion. (If Dolph Lundgren had been younger, he could have starred this man in a flick!) Another difference between the film and real life is that Heyerdahl had considerably more support IRL.

While “Kon-Tiki” (2012 flick version) does have its dramatic moments, most of the film feels dragging, and it also has that slightly annoying low comedy factor typical of American releases (which the Norwegian film-makers clearly mimicked). By all means, watch it if crazy exploration is your thing, but then, turn to Heyerdahl´s own “Kon-Tiki” from 1950/51. As for the ancient Polynesians or All-Father Odin, who knows…?

3 comments:

  1. OK, parallellen med Snorre kom du tydligen också på själv... ;-) Troligen hade Heyerdahl läst Snorre, och kanske inspirerats. Att Oden var en kung är en ganska spridd teori, som finns antydd lite överallt. Jag har ex,vis träffat personer som hävdar att Oden i själva verket var Attila.

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  2. Intressant. Måste läsa Snorre på nytt. visst är det den yngre eddan där han skriver detta om Troja eller något sådant? Annars är ju kopplingen Skandinavien-Skytien intressant, fanns om den innefattar Oden är kanske mer tveksamt...

    Däremot finns det klara paralleller mellan hur Oden offrar sig själv i världsträdet Yggdrasil och blir genomborrad av ett spjut, och Jesu Kristi korsfästelse. Alltså själva akten. Syftet var givetvis helt annorlunda. (En kristen hade kunnat se det hela som en satanistisk parodi på Jesu lidandes historia!) Man undrar om likheten är en slump, kristet inflytande eller något slags mysteriekult som nått Skandinavien...?

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  3. Ja, Snorre skrev "den yngre" Eddan. Den äldre, den poetiska Eddan, är anonyma handskrifter. Som anses vara från hednisk tid.

    Vilket får mig att tycka att den är mer intressant. Dessutom tycker jag att den är bättre skriven.

    Jag tror att Oden offrade sig är ett kristet lån. Oden fick konkurrera med Jesus på detta område...

    Anledningen att Snorre skriver detta om Troja misstänker jag beror på att han vill att asatron PÅ NÅGOT SÄTT ska beskrivas som "verklig" utan att han själv blir avrättad. Vilket han nog skulle blivit om han hävdat att det var "verkliga" gudar...

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