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The opening credits of Lee Chang-dong's extraordinary "Peppermint Candy" (2000) begin in darkness, until a tiny circle of light appears the center of the screen. As the circle expands, we realize we are looking out from a train as it is emerging from a tunnel. A title tells us that it is 1999. As the train rolls over a tall bridge into a lush countryside, a well-dressed man lies sprawled out on the ground below, apparently dead. But when we look closer we see that his eyes are open and his face is trembling, as if he just woke up from a nightmare. He is Yongho (Sol Kyung-gu) and this is the last day of his life.

There's a happy party going on near the bank of a river. People dance merrily as Yongho staggers towards them. He joins their dance, lurching about wildly. It turns out that they are celebrating is a twenty year high school reunion and by coincidence, Yongho was one of their classmates. They greet Yongho warmly, but as he starts to spoil their party, thrashing about and singing a love song off-key, they aren't upset when he slips. Yongho jumps into the river and splashes and lurches towards the bridge. Suddenly he stops and looks meditatively at the s silent water. What is it about this spot that is so important? We will find out later.

The partygoers turn to see that Yongho is on the bridge and a train is rapidly approaching. Only one of them runs to the bridge to try to talk him down. Yongho throws his hands and gives out a series of heartbreaking wails. His grief and despair is so overwhelming that he is completely out of control. As everyone dances, the train approaches. Just as he is about to be run over, Yongho screams, "I am going back!"

And indeed he does. Or at least we do. For the next two hours we travel backwards in fits and starts through the events of Yongho's life. The first stop is three days before; after that there are sequences in 1994, 1987, 1980, and finally, in 1979. In this last scene, we go back to where it all began, with him surrounded by the same friends at the bank of the same river.

"Peppermint Candy" has been likened to "Forrest Gump" in that both have protagonists that journey through the recent history of their countries. Yongho's tragedy is unique and personal, but it plays against the backdrop of the frenetic recent history of post-war South Korea. During those twenty years, South Korea went through not one but two dictators, a heady economic boom followed by a crash, and so on. For example, in the 1980 segment, Yongho is a reluctant soldier who is present at the Gwangju Massacre, a confrontation between government troops and pro-democracy students where over 200 civilians (some say over a thousand) were killed. While there is no question that knowledge of Korean history adds resonance to the movie, pretty much anything you need to know is woven into the story of the film.

It's not hard for me to guess why this film was never released in this country. It's a searing, devastating movie, and Yongho is anything but a "likable" character--he's a volatile and violent, a brutal, torturing cop, a wife beater, etc. No matter how much we come to understand him, it's still hard to forgive him, and I bet a lot of people don't.

The film is unified with two very powerful metaphors. The first is the train. Between each segment, we are on a train, traveling backwards (literally, we see people walking in reverse, etc.) and trains figure prominently in all the stories. The train shots make very poetic segues, but we also realize that his whole life is on this track and he can't get off it. We know how it will all end up. Perhaps the train is fate; perhaps it's the downward pull of the world he finds himself in. Of course he's responsible for every outrage he commits in the movie, but the heartbreaking question the movie poses is what would this man's life have been if he hadn't been dragged along by that train. We all have beautiful potential when we're young. But then, as they say....shit happens.

The second leitmotif is the Peppermint Candy. I don't want to say too much about this because I want you to see the film and discover it. Suffice to say it is connected with the most powerful strand in the story, Yongho's relationship with the one true love of his life, Sunim (Moon So-ri). The way this metaphor is developed, the subtleties of the way it means different things at different times is one of the reasons I find this film so sublime.

Lee Chang-dong is best known in this country for "Oasis" (2002), the story of the romance between a somewhat retarded young recently released from prison and a severely disabled woman with cerebral palsy. The film shares the two lead actors of "Peppermint Candy" as well as its storytelling approach. What makes it so devastating is not just their ill-fated love story but what it reveals about the supposedly "normal" people around them, they way they cruelly exploit them and see them as less than human. "Oasis" was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and the film won four prizes at Venice in 2002, including the Director's Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Moon So-ri.

A former high school teacher, Lee began his writing career as a playwright and an acclaimed novelist before becoming a screenwriter. After writing "To the Starry Island" (1994) and "A Single Spark" (1996), Lee made his debut as a writer/director at 47 with 1997's "Green Fish." And that's it--only three films so far. A year after "Oasis," he became Korea's Minister of Culture. The good news is Lee is currently in post on his fourth feature, "Secret Sunshine," starring Song Kang-ho, the male lead in "The Host."

Until recently, "Peppermint Candy" wasn't available on DVD in this country, but thankfully the U.S. rights have been picked up by YA Entertainment and it can be purchased at Amazon.com, among other stores. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn't have it, although they do have "Oasis," which is another masterpiece and a must see.

(It wouldn't be right not to thank my Korean friends for their insight on "Peppermint Candy," notably Ye-rin Um, and of course, my desktop reference--Anthony C.Y. Leong's Korean Cinema: The New Hong Kong.)