Watch Big River Man For Free

How sad is this?

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

An other-worldly journey through the limits of human endurance. Martin's first endurance swim was to escape from his abusive father and it is a ritual he seems to repeat on a grander and grander scale, driven on maniacally in the end. At the beginning it looks as though he is in pursuit of fame and acclaim but as the journey goes on it seems as though he may actually be fleeing from the inescapable. On a couple of occasions he abandons large civic receptions arranged for him and swims away out into the night, only a small support boat with a friend with a torch in tow. This documentary is a fascinating manifestation of inner turmoil battled with super-human determination and played out in a savagely beautiful environment.

This is one of the most bizarre documentaries I've ever seen. Its not a well made film by any means. It looks rather amateur and it is edited and executed like they've just cracked the box open on Final Cut Pro. But the strange thing about this doco is that it's entirely compelling. It chronicles one middle-aged man's determination to swim the length of the Amazon river... a fete never attempted. Its a river full of countless dangers; piranha, anacondas, alligators, parasites, whirlpools and Amazonian natives to name just some. The film begins in a very hokey manner which basically has it's subject, Martin Strel, prancing around like a drunken imbecile. I found this irritating as if they're declaring to the world "We're from Slovenia, aren't we weird?"... but once the marathon swim begins, the movie is captivating. As days begin to meld into each other the story begins to resemble something from Apocalypse Now as Strel slowly slips into madness and delirium. A lot of the editing is forced and unnecessary but the overall journey is well worth watching. As the end credits began to roll it was strange to see Olivia Newton-John's name pop up as a producer. I am guessing she came on board after the fact to help fund it's distribution. Whatever... its a really peculiar movie!

Martin Strel is a long distance swimmer who has swam the lengths of the Yangtze River and the Mississippi River. In this documentary it is shown how he swims the Amazon River, the deadliest and longest river in the world.'Why' is the obvious question but once you get to see Strel and learn his story, you quickly understand the reasons. Strel was abused as a child and the story of him running away from his abusive father and swimming an icy river is told as the beginning of Strel's journey.The 'Heart of Darkness' allusions are pretty much mandatory when discussing Strel and his boat of assistants who go down the Amazon in search of a world record. No one has ever swam the Amazon before. No one had swam the Yagtze or Mississippi before either, but the Amazon of course has more allure and danger.This is a documentary like "Grizzly Man", the movie wouldn't be at all appealing if it weren't for its unique main character who puts himself in a unique position. Strel is a larger than life figure, he's quite literally overweight, and he's an alcoholic. He's from Slovenia where's he's regarded as a national hero. One of the perks of his fame is that he gets private access to a cave in Slovenia where he meditates and "thinks like an animal so he won't get eaten in the Amazon" The reason people like Strel and Treadwell are interesting to me is that they put themselves in situations where you think they're completely insane but you can't help but root for them. It's part of the human spirit, I suppose. Everyone along the Amazon, in Peru and Brazil, want Strel to succeed and so does the viewer. This makes it a great documentary! Highly recommended.

I recently attended a screening of Big River Man at the ICA in London, the film was Directed and shot by John Maringouin (won best cinematographer award at Sundance 2009) follows Martin Strel as he attempts to cover 3,375 miles of the Amazon River in what is being billed as the world's longest swim. What a treat! Easily the best doc I've seen since Man on Wire, Big River Man is a wonderful, very funny, insightful epic road (substitute river) movie on what is still one of the last great unknown frontiers, the mighty Amazon River and the jungle it meanders through. Martin Strel and his son and project manager/PR publicist Borut Strel attended the screening and did a Q&A afterwards, they were both very charming, honest and open in their answers and amazingly modest, since the film pulled no punches, was brutally honest as they fought dozens of physical and psychological barriers to complete their incredible quest of endurance, simply an epic human endeavour. I found this film to be one of the most enjoyable films I've watched in recent years and would urge you to make your best efforts to see it, giving it my highest recommendation to all and everyone to see it since Let The Right One In. Funny fact, the film listed Olivia Newton-John as one of its executive producers (yes Grease), hat's off to her, her money was truly well invested here. Regards Ray Brady - London based indie feature director.