The English Surgeon: operating on people's thoughts and feelings
British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh first visited Ukraine in 1992 and found medical cases that haven't been seen in Britain for the past 60 years - the consequences of an underdeveloped medical system caught in political upheaval. Since his first visit he has collaborated with a colleague, Igor Kurilets, to set up a clinic. Despite resistance from Ukrainian authorities, they have run a thriving centre for neurosurgery in Kiev since 1993.
Geoffrey Smith, a producer/director with Eyeline Films, met Marsh in 2003 while making the BBC series 'Your Life in Their Hands' and was inspired by to make a documentary featuring Marsh's charitable work in Ukraine. In 2006 he was commissioned by Storyville, the BBC's premiere documentary slot, to make the film. Storyville documentaries typically receive up to half of their funding from the BBC and have to raise the remainder themselves. This led to the Wellcome Trust funding the editing costs of ‘The English Surgeon’.
Smith's film, 'The English Surgeon', covers one of Marsh's trips to the clinic, a 12-day visit during which he sees many patients whose conditions have become severe through lack of medical attention.
Throughout the film, Geoffrey Smith explores myriad themes: the end of the Soviet era, the relationship between patient and doctor, the moral and ethical dilemmas facing doctors, and the role of hope in medicine - even in hopeless cases. It touches on the sad case of Katya, a young girl who had a benign tumour that had become inoperable because it had been allowed to grow too large. She died after several rounds of surgery, confronting Marsh with the issue of the risk of operating versus that of not operating. As he says: "Neurosurgery is 90 per cent decision making and 10 per cent surgery. The decision to open up someone's head is crucial because I am operating on people's thoughts and feelings...if something goes wrong then I can destroy that person's character...for ever".
The English Surgeon was broadcast on BBC 2 in March 2008 to 800 000 viewers. It received extensive media attention and stimulated public debate in the UK, abroad and on the internet. Press reviews included comments such as: "a lovely, lovely film, the best documentary for a long time" (Guardian); "this is one triumph that you should not miss" (Independent on Sunday); "a provocative and deeply moving documentary...funny and frightening, tragic and triumphant" (Sunday Express). International reviews - such as those in the Wall Street Journal and the very prestigious New York Times - were equally enthusiastic. Some papers ran interviews with Marsh, including a front-page news story and interview in the Sunday Times, and a front-cover feature interview in the Sunday Express Review Magazine.
The full-length film was subsequently been sold to over 15 international broadcasters, and was shown on several European television channels, on public television in the USA and at over 85 documentary festivals around the world. Prizes for the film included the main prize at Hotdocs in Toronto, Four Screens in Paris, ZagrebDocs, the Shanghai TV Festival, the main Jury Prize of the Silverdocs Festival in Washington DC, and Docudays in the Ukraine.
People Award, 'The English Surgeon', 2007
