Ra (1972 film)

Ra
Film poster
Directed byLennart Ehrenborg
Thor Heyerdahl
Produced byLennart Ehrenborg
StarringThor Heyerdahl
Narrated byRoscoe Lee Browne
CinematographyCarlo Mauri
Kei Ohara
Production
company
Distributed byInterwest Film Corp. (US)
Release date
  • 23 March 1972 (1972-03-23)
Running time
96 minutes
CountriesSweden
Norway
LanguageEnglish

Ra (also known as The Ra Expeditions) is a 1972 Swedish-Norwegian documentary film directed by Lennart Ehrenborg and Thor Heyerdahl, documenting the Ra expeditions organised by Heyerdahl in 1969 and 1970, in which he and an international crew attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to the Caribbean aboard papyrus reed boats. The film chronicles both the failed first voyage on Ra and the successful crossing on Ra II, which arrived in Barbados after 57 days at sea. Narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne, the film was produced by Ehrenborg for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 44th Academy Awards.[1]

Background

In 1969, Thor Heyerdahl—who had previously gained international fame through his 1947 Kon-Tiki voyage across the Pacific—set out to demonstrate that ancient Mediterranean civilisations could have crossed the Atlantic and made contact with the peoples of the Americas using only the maritime technology available to them.[2] Inspired by similarities between ancient Egyptian and pre-Columbian cultures, including shared practices of pyramid-building and similarities in calendar systems, Heyerdahl hypothesised that such crossings were feasible in papyrus reed boats of the type depicted in ancient Egyptian wall paintings.[3]

The first boat, named Ra after the Egyptian sun god, was constructed at the foot of the Pyramids of Giza by boatbuilders from Lake Chad using papyrus reed obtained from Lake Tana in Ethiopia, and was subsequently transported to the port city of Safi on the Moroccan coast.[4] Heyerdahl deliberately assembled a crew of seven men from seven different nations—Norman Baker (United States), Carlo Mauri (Italy), Yuri Senkevich (Soviet Union), Santiago Genovés (Mexico), Georges Sourial (Egypt), and Abdullah Djibrine (Chad)—intending to demonstrate that people of diverse backgrounds could cooperate effectively under stressful conditions.[4] The Ra set sail on 25 May 1969, but after approximately 3,000 miles and eight weeks at sea, the crew discovered that a crucial structural element of the Egyptian boatbuilding design had been neglected—a tether that kept the stern elevated—and the vessel began to take on water. Heyerdahl aborted the expedition approximately 600 miles short of Barbados.[2][3]

Undeterred, Heyerdahl organised a second expedition in 1970. The Ra II was built by Aymara boatbuilders from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, who were experienced in constructing similar reed vessels. The new boat was shorter but significantly more durable than its predecessor.[4] The crew was largely the same, though Djibrine was replaced by Kei Ohara of Japan and Madani Ait Ouhanni of Morocco.[4] Sailing under the flag of the United Nations, the Ra II departed Safi on 17 May 1970 and arrived in Barbados on 12 July, after 57 days and approximately 6,100 kilometres at sea.[4][3] During both voyages, the crew observed significant marine pollution, encountering oil clumps on the ocean surface; at the request of UN Secretary-General U Thant, Heyerdahl made daily observations of oceanic pollution during the Ra II crossing, recording oil slicks on 43 of the voyage's 57 days.[4] Heyerdahl published an account of both expeditions in his 1971 book The Ra Expeditions.[5]

Film

The documentary was produced by Lennart Ehrenborg, a Swedish filmmaker who had been instrumental in developing documentary programming for Swedish television since 1956, and who had previously produced Abu Simbel: Saved Temples (1966).[6] Ehrenborg co-directed the film with Heyerdahl, while expedition members Carlo Mauri and Kei Ohara served as cinematographers, filming aboard the vessels during the voyages.[1] The English-language version features narration by American actor Roscoe Lee Browne.[1] The film was distributed in the United States by Interwest Film Corp.[7]

Cast

Accolades

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 44th Academy Awards ceremony, held on 15 April 1972. It lost to The Hellstrom Chronicle, directed by Walon Green. The other nominees were Alaska Wilderness Lake, On Any Sunday, and The Sorrow and the Pity.[1] Heyerdahl had previously won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his Kon-Tiki documentary in 1952.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Ra". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b c "Norwegian ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl sails papyrus boat". History. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Ra, 1969 – Ra II 1970". Kon-Tiki Museum. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  5. ^ "Thor Heyerdahl". EBSCO Research Starters. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Lennart Ehrenborg". IMDb. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Academy Award Nominees 1941–1996". International Documentary Association. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra_(1972_film)