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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.

This is what some critics have to say:

Followers of Maringouin's impressive, disturbing feature debut, "Running Stumbled," may not spot the filmmaker's touch in the brightly amusing first 30 minutes, but gradually, as the 52-year-old Martin ventures deep downstream and flirts with his physical limits, the disorienting strangeness of "Running" seeps into "Big River Man," resulting in something much darker than a merely amusing promo reel for the Slovenian swimmer.

- Robert Koehler, Variety

People don't get much more documentary-worthy than Martin Strel... film-maker John Maringouin could hardly fail to come up with a good story. In the event, he got an absolute epic, in which Strel loses his marbles and insists on keeping swimming despite severe risks to his physical health.

- 4 Stars, Edward Porter, London Times

Director John Maringouin has chanced upon documentary gold - Strel is the sort of off-kilter character even the most imaginative fiction writer would have had trouble dreaming up.

- 4 Stars, Tim Evans, Sky News

© Big River Man