The English Surgeon
Henry Marsh, a leading brain surgeon from England, first visited Kiev to give a lecture in 1992. While there, he was shocked by the conditions he observed, patients dying from simple, untreated tumors. From that time on, he made it his mission to visit there once-a-year to operate and save as many patients as possible. On one of these trips (in 2007), award-winning filmmaker Geoffrey Smith followed Marsh to the Ukraine where he filmed Marsh and Ukrainian neurosurgeon Igor Kurilets as they worked around the clock to diagnose as many patients as possible, offering them their last hope of survival.
Encountering a poor young man, Marian Dolishny, Marsh discovers that the young man is suffering from a brain tumor that, without surgery, he will soon die. However, he believes that he can save the man with an operation, albeit a very delicate one, to remove the tumor with the provision that Dolishny remain awake through the entire operation. Smith films the procedure in which Dolishny, bravely undergoes the operation while Marsh completes the surgery. The documentary is very tense and unforgettable, stunningly and graphically filmed with a musical score composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. There are stories also regarding other patients seen my Marsh that reveal how he handles them in various situations, some that he can help, others that he cannot. In my opinion, Henry Marsh is a true compassionate and unselfish man in a world where few of his kind can be found.
A most stunning and interesting documentary, this film opens July 31st in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.