a hero to the lot of them

During the Nazis rise to power in Germany, Berthold Brecht was changing theatre. It had been a mainstay to lead the audience to identify with particular characters. Brethold wanted his audiences to be critical. An audience cannot be critical if they are allowed to lose themselves in a performance. "So he devised a theatre of mixed and constantly changing forms to keep the audience aware they were watching not an imitation of life but a show with an urgent and dialectical purpose" (Rabiger, Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, Third Edition).

Brechtian Distancing.
Demanding.
Nazis rising.
Timing is everything.