"Only at the very end does he commit one actual, physical act of heroism," the filmmaker continues. "But he never feels heroic. And as I was working on the screenplay, I realised that one of the essential truths about heroism is that it only feels good in retrospect."
He also says that while his film, which triggered huge number of controversies, is a hit throughout Germany, it is particularly appreciated in the eastern region that was the communist East Germany between 1950 and 1990.
"People in Eastern Germany could so much identify with that character (Wiesler). Because they all, at some point, believed that they fighting for the right side. This is important to note: It wasn't a kind of dictatorship where people were forced to stay there and were under tight control. Actually, nobody believed (at least for some time) that this was all wrong. Of the two sides, people in East Germany believed this was the right side; of the two Germanys, this was the better side. The other side had more money, but this was the right side."
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"Only at the very end does he commit one actual, physical act of heroism," the filmmaker continues. "But he never feels heroic. And as I was working on the screenplay, I realised that one of the essential truths about heroism is that it only feels good in retrospect."