"Made for the BBC's 'Storyville' strand, this is one extraordinary documentary, approaching hugely emotive subject matter with nimble delicacy and, it has to be said, steely reserve when it comes to filming a brain operation performed under only local anaesthetic. A life-affirming, unforgettable portrait of a true humanitarian, it's crying out for a proper cinema release"

"...any of these three characters are worthy of a film of their own, but the fact they appear in the same one seems incredible. Geoffrey Smith's exceptional documentary has everything you might demand of any film in the Festival: tense drama, heartbreaking pathos, scenes not for the squeamish, some awful moral dilemmas, pertinent political points to make, even a fair amount of humour and a score composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis".

THE ENGLISH SURGEON OPERATES WITH A HOUSEHOLD DRILL

"No scene in any film showing at The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival is tenser than the one two thirds of the way through The English Surgeon. 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. It is the pivotal moment in a documentary which has its world premiere at the festival on Tuesday and is by turns funny, frightening and deeply moving".

"There are very, very few films I love quite as much as this one".