The English Surgeon

The Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill will be showing an extraordinary documentary this Friday, Saturday and Sunday: The English Surgeon.

The film follows Henry Marsh, a British neurosurgeon, who since the 1990s has been traveling to Kiev to train local doctors and to operate on patients who have nowhere else to turn.

More than any film about doctors I’ve seen the film captures the emotional side of the practice of medicine, the frustration and satisfaction, the excitement and the heartbreak. 

The English Surgeon gets to the heart of what it means to be a doctor.

Michael McCarthy

Description:

When British brain surgeon Henry Marsh first visited the KGB Hospital in Kiev in the early 1990s, he was appalled by the conditions. Patients were dying from treatable conditions.

Since then, Marsh has been on a mission to create a viable brain surgery clinic, salvaging discarded equipment from British hospitals, second-hand drills from flea markets and any other tools fashioned to do the job.

Geoffrey Smith’s exceptional documentary follows the maverick neurosurgeon on a trip to the Ukraine, where he encounters patients for whom he is the last chance.

As Marsh tackles increasingly risky cases, he is haunted by the memory of a young Ukrainian girl whose operation went fatally wrong.

The English Surgeon is tense, heartbreaking, humorous and extraordinary. Musical score composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Where:

 Northwest Film Forum 1515 12th Ave in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, on 12th Avenue between Pike & Pine Street.

 When:

• Friday, Jun 19 at 07:00 PM
• Friday, Jun 19 at 09:00PM
• Saturday, Jun 20 at 05:00PM
• Saturday, Jun 20 at 07:00PM
• Saturday, Jun 20 at 09:00PM
• Sunday, Jun 21 at 05:00PM
• Sunday, Jun 21 at 07:00PM
• Sunday, Jun 21 at 09:00PM

To learn more:

Visit the Northwest Film Forum Web site

Visit The English Surgeon Web site, where you can purchase a DVD of the film and learn more about the Kiev clinic project.

Category: Surgery