Screening: The English Surgeon

Followed by Q&A with director Geoffrey Smith and surgeon Henry Marsh

What is it like to have God like surgical powers, yet to struggle
against your own humanity? What is it like to try and save a life, and
yet to fail?

Shot in a Ukrainian hospital full of desperate patients and makeshift equipment, The English Surgeon
is an intimate portrait of brain surgeon Henry Marsh as he wrestles
with the dilemmas of the doctor patient relationship. “It’s like
selling your soul to the devil, but what can you do? My son had a brain
tumour as a baby and I was desperate for someone to help me. I simply
can’t walk away from that need in others”

With an original soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, The English Surgeon
openly confronts moral and ethical issues which touch every one of us.
And all in a country called Ukraine which is struggling to do the same
thing….

THE GUARDIAN
“…the best documentary for a long time”

VARIETY
“Deeply touching, resonant and ….very funny”

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE DOCUMENTARY HOTDOCS 2008
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE DOCUMENTARY SILVERDOCS 2008

Length: 94 mins
Directed by: Geoffrey Smith
UK 2008