To be titled “Big River Man”, the film will follow Strel as he attempts to cover 3,375 miles in what is being billed as the world’s longest swim. Strel, who hails from Slovenia, previously completed record swims in the Danube, Mississippi and Yangzte rivers and holds several Guiness World Records.

Big River Man (2009)
  • Rating: (924 votes)
  • Tagline:The film documenting Martin Strel's historic swim down the Amazon »
  • Runtime:100 minutes
  • Director: John Maringouin
  • Country:USA
  • Actors:
    Himself
    Matthew Mohlke
    Borut Strel
    Himself
    Martin Strel
  • Genre:Documentary
  • Producers:
    Fredrik Carlström
    co-executive producer  
    Mickey Cottrell
    executive producer  
    Amazon John Easterling
    executive producer  
    Maria Florio
    producer  
    Molly Hassell
    producer  
    Molly Lynch
    producer  
    John Maringouin
    producer  
    Roger M. Mayer
    producer  
    Olivia Newton-John
    executive producer (as Olivia Newton-John Easterling) 
    Kevin Ragsdale
    producer  
    Edward Saxon
    co-executive producer  
  • Plot: To be titled "Big River Man", the film will follow Strel as he attempts to cover 3,375 miles in what is being billed as the world's longest swim. Strel, who hails from Slovenia, previously completed record swims in the Danube, Mississippi and Yangzte rivers and holds several Guiness World Records. Written by anonymous
Big River Man
  • User's comment:The heart of darkness by Frederick M

    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.


  • Also known as: Suurten jokien mies (Finland - TV title),

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