Big River Man
Synopsis
The film documenting Martin Strel's historic swim down the Amazon
Follows Martin Strel as he attempts to cover 3,375 miles of the Amazon River in what is being billed as the world's longest swim.
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Martin Strel has been smimming many long distances, he did the Mississippe and then on film here the Mighty Amazon river, he we see his struggle and determination and eventual mind games. the doc is missing things id love to see, Anacondas, Piranhas and the such, but does give a interesting glimpse at a man who is just great at what he does, hes getting on in years but still enthusiastic as ever
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'Big River Man' follows Slovakian distance swimmer Martin Strel's hazardous attempt to swim the entire amazon river. Highly entertaining documentary that works like a cross between a travelogue and endurance task, its also laced with green and westernization issues.
Fun and well made though at times felt forced to me, especially towards the climax of their trip. It clearly uses Hearts of Darkness as a reference point to show the grueling challenge of the alcoholic and eccentric swimmer Strels journey, hes a fantastic character and a true one off.
Viewed as part of my Beware the Docs of March Marathon 1
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Hay un fuerte elemento de melancolia y nostalgia permeando cada escena en "The Illusionist" del director Sylvain Chomet (quien tambien hizo la brillante "The Triplets of Belleville", la cual es una de las peliculas animadas mas creativas que he visto). Esta cinta contiene un estilo visual similar, sin embargo tiene un tono mas solemne gracias al guion de Jacques Tati.
"The Illusionist" no es una pelicula para niños (la mayoria la encontrara sumamente lenta y algo deprimente). Aunque es hermosa y atmosferica (creando un gran retrato de la vida en Escocia) , creo que la cinta no alcanza su completo potencial. De todos modos la recomiendo como una bella y nostalgica cinta animada -
Martin Strel is an interesting enough guy without all the garbage in this film. I have no problem with the embellishing of characters in a documentary as long as the embellishments bring something to the film.There is a good story here and the swimming of the Amazon river is thrilling enough to have filled this entire movie with interesting footage.
Instead director John Maringoiun ends up alienating his subject by creating a bunch of staged scenes, the worst offender being the ambulance scene near the end. This scene ends up playing like the end of one of David Blaine's magic specials where it seems like his health is seriously at risk, when it really isn't.
I was willing to forgive…
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Great doco following a really interesting man.
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Great doco!