The viral video depicting a young Syrian child risking life and limb to save his wounded sister amidst a hail of sniper fire was revealed to be an elaborate fake. The video, which made the rounds last week, has been credited to Lars Klevberg, a 34 year-old Norwegian director.
However, Klevberg shot the short far from the Syrian battlefields on the tiny island nation of Malta contrary to what most news websites were reporting. The director claims to have done it in order to raise awareness to the involvement of children in global conflicts. Klevberg is instead inspiring ire among outlets that claim that the fake makes other authentic videos showing the plight of the Syrian people harder to believe and more likely to be doubted.
The Norwegian Film Institute and Arts Council Norway issued a strongly-worded open letter condemning the "deceptive nature of the film" and chastising the Klevberg's brash belittlement of a very real danger Syrian children find themselves in. The director himself has responded to the flak via a press release publishing on his personal twitter feed, stating that the true intent of the video was to "urge action on behalf of innocent children all over the world who are affected by war".
The original uploaded video's description has now been updated to reflect its true origins. In it the young boy appears to pretend to have been shot in the chest and falls to the ground before sprinting to pull his stranded sister back to safety. Check it out below.