The Rebel

In 1922, French Indochina is wracked by peasant uprisings as the French secret police recruit Vietnamese agents to hunt the rebels. Le Van Cuong is one of these agents, renowned for a spotless record yet haunted by the bloodshed his work entails.

After a high-ranking French official is assassinated, Cuong is ordered to track down and kill the rebellion's elusive leader. The mission underscores the harsh toll of colonial suppression and sets Cuong on a collision course with Thuy.

Cuong encounters Vo Thanh Thuy, a fierce revolutionary fighter and daughter of the rebel leader. Their meeting stirs a complex mix of duty, idealism, and personal attraction.

Sy, Cuong's cruel superior, captures and imprisons Thuy to break the resistance. The act tightens the stakes for Cuong and shows the brutality of the colonial crackdown.

Cuong suspects that Sy learned of the attack plan and may be a mole. He warns Thuy about the possible betrayal and, against orders, helps her escape, becoming a fugitive in the process.

Thuy's fierce patriotism inspires Cuong, and the two go on the run together as Sy closes in. Their bond deepens as they confront danger and the possibility of love forming across a line of loyalty.

Cuong and Thuy reach her father's hideout, and French soldiers launch a nighttime assault. The rebels unexpectedly hold their ground and repel the attackers.

Inside the vicinity, Sy confronts them alongside Hua Danh. Cuong fights Hua Danh and kills him but sustains wounds, showing the brutal cost of their resistance.

While tending Cuong's wounds, Thuy reveals that her mother killed herself after being raped by a French soldier, and her father only learned of it after his release. The revelation deepens their connection and resolve.

Cuong and Thuy confess their feelings and make love, a personal bond that complicates Cuong's role as a loyal agent of the French. The romance adds emotional weight to their risky alliance.

Sy captures Thuy's father and brands Cuong a traitor in the eyes of the French. He reports up the chain, triggering renewed pursuit and a fraying of loyalties within both sides of the conflict.

The hideout is ambushed and the rebels are held at gunpoint. Cuong frees the captives with a hidden knife, and a brutal fight erupts as Thuy's brother dies urging Thuy to save their father.

Cuong and Thuy corner Sy near a train and kill him by stabbing him in the eye. They rescue Thuy's father and begin a desperate return to the village.

Back in the village, they pay homage to the little girl who survived and mourn the dead. They spread the ashes of the fallen across the rivers of Vietnam, a solemn closure to their ordeal.