The English Surgeon (2007)

Get acquainted with the work of British brain surgeon Henry Marsh, who, since his haunting first visit to a Russian hospital in the early 1990s, has been devoted to founding a quality brain surgery clinic in the former Soviet Union. Marsh cobbles together secondhand tools and used equipment from hospitals in the U.K. to treat patients in need, such as Marian, a Ukrainian man for whom Marsh is his greatest hope. 2007 94 minutes

Henry Marsh, a leading British neurosurgeon who spends his holidays working 18 hour days for free in a Kiev operating theatre, must remove an enormous tumour from the brain of a Ukrainian man who will otherwise die. Anaesthetic is too risky so the patient is kept awake while a hole is bored through his skull using a second-hand household drill with a flat battery. Mr Marsh then performs the surgery, mindful that the slightest slip will kill, paralyse or alter Marian's personality forever. This is the pivotal moment in a documentary which is by turns funny, frightening and deeply moving."

2007, 84 minutes.