Ho Chi Minh is one of the most important figures in the history of Vietnam, and this film tells the story of the man who led his country to independence. Born Nguyen Sinh Cung in 1890, Ho travelled the world as a young man, working as a cook, a teacher and a journalist, before becoming a committed communist and founding the Indochinese Communist Party. He spent decades organising against French colonial rule, and in 1945 he declared the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The documentary traces Ho’s long struggle, from the war against France and the battle of Dien Bien Phu to the war with the United States, during which he became the symbol of Vietnamese resistance. It looks at his leadership style, his simple lifestyle, his skill as a strategist, and the cult of Uncle Ho that grew around him. The film also examines the cost of the wars he led, and the united, communist Vietnam that emerged after his death in 1969.
This portrait matters because Ho Chi Minh shaped not only Vietnam but the whole Cold War in Asia. For viewers who want to understand the Vietnam War, the appeal of communism in the colonial world, and the man at the centre of it all, this is a clear and compelling introduction.