De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Considering that once upon a time it was thought that simply touching the beating heart would cause it to stop (and thus cause death), it's quite staggering to realise the amount of intervention that the human body can take, actually.

Not for the squeamish, obviously, but for me the scenes included here of inserting a plastic lens into an eye (presumably after cataract surgery), and literally screwing a metal rod into a spine (presumably to correct curvature) were amazing demonstrations of now-routine applications of technology - not to mention the ubiquitous use of keyhole surgery, and micro-cameras and instruments.

As a documentary, this dispenses with third-person voiceover, so one just has to infer context from the comments of the medical staff and patients as they go about and undergo the various processes, and you just have to "go with it" (or turn away).

Fascinating.