Nestled between the mighty powers of China and Japan, Korea, divided since the end of the war in 1953, has had its share of troubles. In Hidden Korea historian Bruce Kraig takes a sweeping look at the peninsula's history and modern culture. Focusing primarily on South Korea-the north has been locked up tight for decades-Kraig explores the agriculture and relatively new urban life with a special emphasis on food. As filmed by his wife, Jan Thompson, the rice fields are gorgeous; the national dish, kimchee, looks delicious; and the fresh seafood seems to put the Mediterranean to shame. Stepping away from the dinner table, the viewer learns about the many spiritual traditions of Korea, and its blend of Confucianism, Buddhism, shamanism, and Christianity that persists today. Though only hidden by the shadows of its giant neighbors, Korea is still largely unknown to Western audiences; Professor Kraig helps illuminate this vibrant and growing culture. -Rob Lightner Hidden Korea explores the culture of the Republic of South Korea, a modern country that has retained a unique identity through its traditions and cuisine. This program highlights different areas of agriculture including rice farming, traditional foods and their preparations, the Chu'sok festival (a holiday remembering the dead), Buddhism Confucianism, traditional celadon making and fishing. This program is a nourishing introduction to, or a reminder of, the rich culture of an ancient society.

Following the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro's trusted comrade Ernesto Che Guevara found himself becoming a bureaucrat. Seeking a return to action, Che eventually traveled in secret to Bolivia in 1966, hoping to foment a revolution on the South American mainland that would spread throughout all of Latin America. This documentary, which relies greatly on a journal Che kept during his time in Bolivia, as well as interviews with contemporaries who fought in the hills with him, provides an insightful look at his thoughts during the last year of his life. Che's apparent intent in Bolivia was, of course, to copy the success of the Cuban Revolution, but the words of his journal, as read in the documentary, betray his increasing hopelessness. His band of guerrillas was tiny and hungry, often more concerned with killing birds for food than with any principles of global revolution. According to those who appear on camera to speak of Guevara's final days, it seems the peasants were terrified of getting involved. Tracking Guevara's movements through the Bolivian mountains, the documentary proceeds at a leisurely pace, but it also provides a great deal of information about Guevara's final days, leading up to his execution by Bolivian troops acting, some say, under the direction of the CIA. -Robert J. McNamara.

In Dream of Light, the celebrated director of The Spirit of the Beehive, Victor Erice, achieves the miraculous: a direct look into how an artist creates.

Amateur movies shot with small handheld cameras by six German infantrymen on the Eastern Front during World War II form the core of this documentary. The men who took the movies appear on camera as old men to provide narration (in German, with subtitles), and they provide a perspective not often heard. As might be expected, they distance themselves from atrocities, and as they were foot soldiers in the Wehrmacht, their denials of involvement are probably true. One of the men still owns the camera he carried in the war, and he demonstrates how its small size made it perfect for impromptu filming in the field. Clips of smiling troops on the move is accompanied by an old man talking about how happy they were to be going to an unknown destination, likening it to "the joy one feels when on a journey. " It turns out the gleeful trip he recalls was actually the beginning of the invasion of Poland and thus the beginning of the war in Europe. Later footage shows combat conditions in Russia, and the grisly aftermath of vicious combat. The rarity of the film footage, some of which was shot in color, makes this documentary worth watching. But the recollections of the amateur cameramen also provide an unusual insight into the German war machine, such as when one of the old veterans mentions how he eventually realized, "This was no defensive war forced upon us, it was an idiotic war of aggression. " -Robert J. [+]