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Ken Duken plays Commander Werner Hartenstein

Who is Werner Hartenstein?

Hartenstein is the submarine captain of the U-156 and he is both a seaman and a war man. On the one hand he torpedoes boats – that's what he does, he destroys. But the moment when it was most important his humanity came through.

Do you see him as a hero?

I would never say a human should call himself a hero and right now I am Hartenstein so for me it's quite strange – I don't want to play him as a hero. He's a human, he does the right thing at the right moment but he also does not so good things. What I like about this character is it's not about him jumping into a burning house or saving the world. No, he makes himself vulnerable, takes people on his boat, helps them and he shows some mercy. And therefore he is a very good person on one side but on the other side he is a soldier. He is a warrior and he is fighting for the wrong side.

Why did you want to be involved in this film?

I think what makes this film so special is we have a lot of films about the Second World War in Germany and people sometimes think, "Not again". There was a discussion between an American director and producer I heard about and the director said: "Why are there so many films about the Second World War?" The producer said: "It's very easy – it's because it was the last romantic war because it's so simple who's black and who's white". The Germans were always the bad guys, but right now in this script it's not so clear cut – we just have humans on both sides and we see those stories get mixed and that's what makes it so interesting to me.

In many ways the Germans come out of the story the best...

I don't think it's going to be the most popular film in Poland or in America. But I think on both sides you have humans and heroes. Hartenstein isn't the only hero. He did something very good in a moment he had to and that makes him special. But the character of Hilda has both sides in her, and you have Mortimer – he's also a phenomenal character. No human is perfect – we all have both in us and this film is about the moments when we decide whether we go one way or the other.

How have the different nationalities worked together on set?

We have got on so well, we really have. The only problem may be soccer – we are trying to get the soccer game set up between the German and the English actors. I don't know when it's going to happen but I do know that we will win on penalties!