Review of Big River Man (2009) by Lina S — 02 Feb 2010

Big River Man is a movie I have been trying to get hold of for quite a while. I loved the idea of an overweight , beer drinking extrovert who had decided to swim the Amazon so I was sure it was going to be a very entertaining documentary - Sadly it turned out to be completely rubbish and and clear as swamp water.

In February 2007 Martin Strel began an insane attempt to be the first person to swim the entire length of the world's most dangerous river, the mighty Amazon. Martin is an endurance swimmer from Slovenia, who swims rivers - the Mississippi, the Danube and the Yangtze to date - to highlight their pollution to the world. Martin is also a rather overweight, horseburger loving Slovenian in his fifties who drinks two bottles of red wine a day... even when swimming.

I should know better than to believe comments on DVD cases. In the case of Big River Man it says on the DVD " More Compelling than any blockbuster" , "Thrilling" & "Great Viewing" all of these comments couldn't be further from the truth.

Firstly this is film is not about a dangerous swim down the Amazon. I'm not even sure if Martin Steel actually did do the swim because this documentary is a totally lame attempt at a comedy that turns into a farcical mess .

Strel's son who narrates , comes across as an amateur publicist who's only goal is to promote a film that masquerades as a documentary about saving the rain forest and ends up being a ridiculous story about his father going mad . It's obviously staged . It's badly acted and because of that I don't think Martin Strel ever did that swim.

I only wish the pathetic Martin Strel had have been eaten by a crocodile along with his son , at least that way the film would have been worth watching.

Big River Man left me confused , annoyed and cheated and I urge anyone who thought about seeing this to not bother.

2 out of 10.