Director: NSND Bạch Diệp

Cast: NSND Trà Giang, NSND Trọng Khôi

Producer:

Screenwriter: NSND Bạch Diệp

Director of Photography: Trương Minh

Art Designer: Nguyễn Ngọc Tuân

Composer: Phú Quang

Production Company: Xí nghiệp phim Truyện Việt Nam

Year: 1987

Running time: 87 minutes

Awards: Silver Lotus Award, Best Actress, at the 8th Vietnam Film Festival, 1988.

Synopsis

This poignant story follows Hương, a midwife at a maternity hospital, whose husband has gone to the battlefield. Amid the turbulence of war, she secretly adopts three newborns - children of revolutionary cadres and intelligence officers - risking her life to protect them. The Legend of the Mother not only honors Hương’s silent sacrifice, but also unveils the painful, untold stories of underground revolutionaries operating behind enemy lines.

When peace is restored, Hương’s husband does not return - he has fallen in battle. Her elderly mother passes away, and just as she tries to hold on to what remains, the children she raised begin to leave her side one by one, returning to their biological families.

Director's biography

People’s Artist Bạch Diệp (1929–2013) was the first female film director in Vietnam. She was known for many acclaimed films such as Người về đồng cói (1973), Ngày lễ Thánh (1976), Câu chuyện làng dừa (1977), Người chưa biết nói (1979), and Ai giận ai thương (1982), etc. Her most notable works are Ngày lễ Thánh and Huyền thoại về người mẹ, both starring People’s Artist Trà Giang, and both winning Silver Lotus Awards at the Vietnam Film Festival in 1977 and 1988 respectively.

In 1959, she enrolled in a film directing course organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), under the guidance of Soviet experts. She graduated in 1963 and joined the Vietnam Feature Film Studio. Her debut film, Trần Quốc Toản ra quân, was awarded the Silver Lotus at the 2nd Vietnam Film Festival.