RSS feed The River Cam provided the perfect backdrop to an outdoor screening of BIG RIVER MAN. John Maringouin’s humorous documentary follows marathon swimmer Martin Strel’s 2007 bid to swim the length of the Amazon. Best of all, Strel arrived by punt at the Grantchester Meadows to present his film personally.
Such ambition is of course bonkers so the film starts out by playfully depicting Strel as a two-bottle-of-red-wine a day Slovenian folk hero, much to the amusement of the onlooking crowds on the riverbank. But gradually as the epic journey exacts its toll on Strel the tone of the piece changes leading to an aftermath as prickly as the one in James Marsh’s film MAN ON WIRE (about the tightrope walker Phillipe Petit).
It’s a matter of world record that Strel completed his epic 3000 mile plus swim in 66 days but how he reacted to his achievement – or at least how it is shown here – boggles the mind whilst being utterly human at the same time. Set from the perspective of Strel’s son (and manager) Borut the film follows through the usual themes of people losing it in the jungle a la Apocalypse Now. It even has a Dennis Hopper style character present in the form of Mat, a gambler who helps the expedition navigate despite his inability to work GPS.
But for all of this Strel made the distance, and as he took to a platform afterwards only one response seemed appropriate – applause.
Review by David Perilli
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