Big River Man (2008) NYT Critics' Pick

[lsanderson]

Martin Strel, an endurance swimmer, in a documentary by John Maringouin that tracks Mr. Strel's 2007 Amazon conquest, which began in Peru on Feb. 1 and ended in Brazil on April 7.
Swimming With Crocodiles, but Well Oiled
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: December 4, 2009

Of all the strange creatures in the documentary “Big River Man,” including the slithering snakes, watchful crocodiles and something called the penis fish (you don’t want to know), few seem as weird or wondrous as its title character. Otherwise known as Martin Strel, the big man here is an outsized Slovenian who, well into adulthood, decided to swim — for reasons he can’t truly explain — the length of some of the longest, most perilous rivers in the world, including the Mississippi. An eccentric worthy of Werner Herzog, Mr. Strel was born to swim, at least on camera: he’s a bobbing, at times foundering star attraction. More