Big River Man

3 out of 5 3
Big River Man
Goggle-eyed … Big River Man
  1. Big River Man
  2. Production year: 2009
  3. Countries: Rest of the world, USA
  4. Cert (UK): 15
  5. Runtime: 100 mins
  6. Directors: John Maringouin
  7. Cast: Borut Strel, Martin Strel, Matthew Mohlke
  8. More on this film

A bizarre, occasionally troubling documentary about marathon swimmer Martin Strel, the Slovenian who made headlines with his record-breaking swim down the Amazon river in 2007. Big River Man starts out a jovial little number, as the barrel-shaped Strel (who looks just like a 19th-century circus strongman) plans his venture, palling up to the US ambassador in Ljubljana and getting his face on billboards across the city. Always trotting alongside is his son Borut, who uncomplainingly fills up his bag with bread rolls at the embassy function, and even impersonates his dad in radio interviews. The pleasingly ramshackle nature of Strel's enterprise begins to unravel soon after he takes to the water in Peru; fried by the sun, infected by parasites, and guzzling beer in sizeable quantities, he cuts an increasingly strange figure, swathed in a linen face mask and sinking into what can only be described as catatonia. Borut maintains an anxious commentary throughout as Martin recedes into a silent, barely glimpsed figure. As the mood darkens, comparisons with Apocalypse Now are entirely appropriate: Strel is acclaimed as a supernatural being by riverbank tribespeople, and his navigator is a very Dennis Hopperesque figure called Matthew, who launches into twitchy diatribes about hell and purgatory. Director John Maringouin, whose previous film was the memoir-doc Running Stumbled, makes an ambitious attempt to put us inside Strel's delusional consciousness as they make their way towards the finish line in Brazil. But we are left with an unanswered question: is someone experiencing psychological breakdown a fit subject for entertainment?

Today's best video

Latest reviews

Today in pictures