Here’s a video seen by millions of users on YouTube when it shows is not real. This little boy is not a Syrian hero braving gunfire to his country to save a little girl, but a young actor playing this role in Malta under the supervision of the Norwegian director Lars Klevberg.

He wanted to shine the spotlight on children in war zones.

“The news, images and videos from war zones who only deal with the misery will not cause people to get involved, he has said in substance (…) But with this film we have built a History shows that many things will go wrong, but in the end, it all ends well.

And this is what makes people get involved because it is based on a humanistic optimism. ”

The video was put on YouTube on Monday. Some had doubts about its authenticity. “The responsibility to check his sources lies with the media, not to me or anyone else,” said the director.

The video, filmed in May, was funded by the Norwegian Film Institute.