During the past month, I have encountered three remarkable “creative works,” which deserve mention. In each instance, there are factors affecting the film or book that may require some stubborn persistence on the part of any would-be viewer/reader. I strongly recommend that you take the trouble to locate the following since they are worth the effort.

“Tae Guk Gi (The Brotherhood of War)”

In terms of spectacle and awesome cinema photography, this two and one half hour Korean epic, released in 2004 might possibly be described as the Korean “Gone With the Wind.” The panoramic scope (and expense) of this film is stunning. However, the realism of the battle scenes with the attending gore may offend he sensibilities of many.

Koreans have the same ambivalence about the Korean War that we have about Viet Nam. Je-kyu Kang, the director of “Tae Guk Gi,” manages to clarify this chaotic event by focusing on the roles (and the hidden agendas) of America, Russia and China – the three superpowers that “orchestrated” this war. By depicting the lives to two Korean brothers “drafted” into the South Korean army, the film succeeds in capturing the nightmarish, pointless insanity that decimated Korea more than half a century ago.

“Cane Toads: An Unnatural History”

This 1988 documentary on the history of bufo marinus (a fat, ugly toad) in Australia qualifies as “an original.” It is a video, which has now acquired “cult status” in the film world and is becoming more popular each year. In addition to chronicling the bizarre consequences when Australia “imports” this creature, the director, Mark Lewis, does a poker-faced survey of the “impacted area,” where people love or hate the ugly bugger.

This is one of the funniest films I have ever seen and I can also recommend another Mark Lewis film, “The Natural History of the Chicken.” (Both available from Netflix.)

Blindness | Jose Saramago

This allegorical novel by a Nobel Prize winner has only become available in the United States this year. As the title suggests, the plot deals with a world in which “white blindness” suddenly spreads like a plague. Bewildered governments herd the blind into camps and within a short time, the blind – although helpless – become the majority. Saramago focuses on a single camp and a woman who can see but pretends to be blind so that she can stay with her husband. Inevitably, the existing social order collapses, power struggles emerge, and the blind find themselves dealing with predictable needs: hunger, sex and fear. This novel resonates with themes from other allegorical works – Camus’ The Plague, Kafka’s The Trial, Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, etc.

— Gary Carden