It looked like a remarkable act of heroism caught on video. A young boy braves rifle fire in order to run to the aid of a girl cowering behind a burnt-out truck. With bullets still flying around them, he pulls her to safety. The video, titled "Syria! Syrian HERO BOY rescue girl in shootout," was viewed over 5 million times in a matter of days, and provoked enormous debate. However, many skeptics questioned the authenticity of the video, noting that the boy appeared to be shot near the beginning, but then got up and continued on, as if unhurt. The skeptics were right. Within a few days, the filmmaker, Lars Klevberg of Oslo, stepped forward. He had filmed the video on a movie set in Malta. He explained that the reason he disguised the video as genuine footage from the conflict in Syria was that he wanted to generate discussion about children in war zones.
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