NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Second Run Blu-ray (August 2023): Second Run have transferred Geoffrey Smith's The English Surgeon to Blu-ray. It is cited as "presented from a new HD transfer of the film, approved by filmmaker Geoffrey Smith". This is a documentary and culls from a few sources so the image quality is imperfect - looking mostly shot on early-format HD. So it is acceptable to be varying in the 1080P with modest smearing in-motion. The higher definition rendering supports the film to appreciate the documentary's important story. 

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Second Run use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original English + Ukrainian languages. The English Surgeon is passive audio-wise and the dialogue is reasonably consistent. The music used is credited to Australian musician, writer and actor Nick Cave and frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. It does add a somber and haunting quality to this impressive documentary via the uncompressed transfer. Second Run have non-removable English subtitles for the non-English spoken segments of the film - on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Second Run Blu-ray offers a a newly filmed 25-minute interview with director Geoffrey Smith discussing making The English Surgeon with some, important history and a new 1/4 hour interview with surgeon Henry Marsh. He first went to Kyiv, Ukraine in 1992 to give lectures and here he discusses the patient-Dr. relationship among many other details. There is also a trailer and the package has a booklet with a new essay by film writer Trevor Johnston.

Geoffrey Smith's The English Surgeon is a fascinating look at Henry Marsh and his innovative ability to overcome so many obstacles in vastly updating the health care system in the Ukraine with proper equipment, training local doctors while often performing surgery without cost to the patients. There are moral and ethical bridges crossed - heartbreaking stories and overall this is a brilliant documentary. I anticipate that he Second Run Blu-ray will continue to expose this story to an appreciative crowd. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze