True/False Films

Big River Man
Dir. John Maringouin; 2009; 94 min.
Saturday, Feb. 28 / 6:00PM / Blue Note
Sunday, Mar. 1 / 4:00PM / Windsor

In person: director John Maringouin and co-director Molly Lynch

If Martin Strel is the most famous man in Slovenia, why hasn't the rest of the world heard of him? Maybe because this overweight, wine-swilling endurance swimmer is hardly anybody's idea of a world-class athlete. Yet, there's no denying Strel's accomplishments. A four-time world-record holder in endurance swimming, Strel has swum literally thousands of miles on rivers around the world, from the Mississippi to the Yangtze. But then there's the Amazon — not only the longest river in the world, but also the most dangerous. And what starts out as a simple "sport" documentary quickly transforms into a psychedelic epic that is part Holy Mountain, part Fitzcarraldo and healthy dose of Apocalypse Now. Maringouin (Running Stumbled) is one of the most visionary directors working today, and he doggedly follows Strel down the muddy rabbit hole and returns with this off-the-rails epic. (DW)