The English Surgeon — The English Surgeon( Blu Ray)
The English Surgeon is a 2007 documentary focusing on middle-aged English NHS neurosurgeon Henry Walsh- who spends his downtime helping at a struggling & unfunded hospital in Ukraine. It’s a compelling, thought-provoking, and at points moving documentary- which never sugar-coats the uncertainty of brain-related issues/ brain surgery/Ukraine's underfunded health system. The film features a most effective & moody soundtrack from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis. Here from Second Run Films- who is most known for releasing world film & arthouse fare is a region free Blu Ray release of the documentary- featuring new interviews with both Herny Marsh, and this film’s director.
The English Surgeon is a British-made film- featuring both English & subtitled Ukraine. It was directed by Geoffrey Smith- whjo has five other directors' credits to his name. These go from a two-part TV doc regarding British UXB bomb-disposal teams during World War II Danger! Unexploded Bomb (2001). Onto an episode of true crime TV show Real Crime ()2001, and Presunto Culpable (2008) which looks at the unjust and corrupted conviction system within Mexico.
The documentary opens in Henry Walsh's back garden in the UK- where the bespectacled & balding middle-aged surgeon is building a large wooden box to send out various old pieces of medical equipment to Ukraine. As the film unfolds, we find out he first went out to Kyiv in the 1990s to do a lecture- while there he visited the city Neurosurgery dept-and was deeply troubled & appalled by how unfunded/ rundown it is- with people suffering from problems that were eradicated/ caught early in any other western hospitals. While there he meets & befriends Ukrainian brain surgeon Igor Kurilets. For the last fifteen years during his holiday from his NHS job, he has been going back & forth to Kyiv- training up Kurilets, supplying old medical equipment, running a pop-up/drop-in clinic, and doing operation himself- completely free of charge.
The film's key patient focus is Marian- a twenty-something man from a poor village in Ukraine, who has a rapidly growing brain tumour- which is causing epileptic seizures and will probably kill him. Marsh must operate on Marian while he is awake, without the use of drugs so as to monitor his motor function can be motioned & kept.
The film takes place during an extreme winter in the Ukraine with temps dropping below -13. As Marsh visits Kurilets Kyiv hospital, which has a pop-up clinic, and carries out the operation. He also goes out into the countryside to visit the mother of one of his child patients- whose condition went downhill after his intervention & then passed.
The film runs at just over the one hour and thirty-three-minute mark. And from the off you are pulled into and fascinated by the story director Smith is telling. You first see the genuine compassion and down-to-earthiness of Walsh, then look into the day-to-day life of Marian as he readies himself for his op. And as he sets down Kyiv you really feel the friendship between Marsh & Kurilets- before he’s straight into a pop-up surgery, where he sees patients- many of whom have rather gloomy diagnoses.
When we come to the operation this is shown in a very frank & at points gruelling manner- which at points had me flitching/ looking away. But again, one is amazed by Marsh’s skill & compassion as a surgeon, as he struggles in the small operation theatre - which is tooled with old drill bits he’s brought from the UK, and bits ‘n’ bobs from the local market. With the whole film resolving in a decidedly provoking & solemn manner- as Marsh & Kurilets visit the mother of one of the patients they lost & her grave.
On the extras side, we find two shoot-on-film interviews. First is with director Geoffrey Smith (25.11) he starts off by talking about the doctor-patient relationship, and how Mr Marsh very much let the filmmaker into his doubts and worries. We find out the film was a real collaboration between the surgeon & filmmaker. And he discusses the pros and cons of observational filmmaking. The second interview is with Henry Walsh (14.15) he begins by talking about how he and the director met seven years before the making of the film- and from the off, he said he wouldn’t enter into the project unless he painted the surgeon in down to earth/non-heroic manner. When they started the film, he asked Smith to be as honest as possible with his filming- and nothing was cut/set up for the documentary. He talks about how this is little or nothing to be learned from success, but there is from failure. We find out he performed his last surgery three years ago now- he now gives talks/ teachers, and sadly he has advanced prostate cancer- though he’s felt very proud & fulfilled with his career.
All in all, The English Surgeon is a highly engaging, at times generally moving and thought-provoking documentary. I do hope there are more plans afoot for Second Run films to release more documentaries down the line, because as with their world/ arthouse releases they have a real penchant for picking the most interesting/ compelling the genre has to offer.