 Herzog made and co-directed the film at the request of his friend Denis Reichle, who himself served as a child-soldier in the Volkssturm at age fourteen in the aftermath of World War II.The film is often cited as Herzog's most explicitly political, though Herzog denies that he had any specific statement on the politics of the Sandinistas.Herzog has said that the film is about child soldiers, and could have been made in any of several countries where child soldiers exist.