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The English Surgeon

Surgeon Henry Marsh
Directed by Geoffrey Smith
Produced by Geoffrey Smith
Starring Henry Marsh
Music by Nick Cave
Warren Ellis
Editing by Kathy O'Shea
Release date(s) October 2007
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language English
Official website

Contents

[edit] Release

The English Surgeon premiered at the London Film Festival, October 1st 2007.

[edit] Synopsis

The English Surgeon is shot in a Ukranian hospital full of desperate patients and makeshift equipment, but it is ultimately not a medical film - it is about a man who openly wrestles with moral and ethical issues which touch every one of us.

Henry's emotional journey takes him to visit the mother of a young girl he couldn't save some years ago, intercut with the current dilemma of a young man called Marian, dying of a brain tumour said to be inoperable in Ukraine. Marian has come to Kiev hoping that Henry can save him. He thinks he can, but only if Marian is awake throughout the entire operation.

With an original soundtrack composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (musician), the film is set in a bleak Ukranian landscape as Henry and his colleague Igor struggle against massive logistical odds and the wrath of the old Soviet health system.

“ 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. ”
 
— Henry Marsh

[edit] Screenings

[edit] Reviews

“ …any of these three characters are worthy a film of their own, but the fact they appear in the same one seems incredible. Geoffrey Smith's exceptional documentary has everything you might demand of any film in the Festival: tense drama, heartbreaking pathos, scenes not for the squeamish, some awful moral dilemmas, pertinent political points to make, even a fair amount of humour and a score composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis ”
 
— London Film Festival Catalogue 2007
“ No scene in any film showing at The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival is tenser than the one two thirds of the way through The English Surgeon… a documentary which is by turns funny, frightening and deeply moving. ”
 
— The Times
“ There are very, very few films I love quite as much as this one. ”
 
— Nick Fraser, BBC
“ An exceptional film…crying out for a proper theatrical release. ”
 
— Time Out Movie Preview

[edit] External Links