The 2016 film Patriots Day is a docudrama based on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent manhunt. Its narrative is adapted from the non-fiction book Boston Strong: A City's Triumph Over Tragedy by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge. The film's primary focus is to dramatize the terrorist attack, the intensive investigation that followed, and the city-wide search for the perpetrators, grounding its plot in established historical events.
The film adheres closely to the factual timeline, depicting key moments such as the bombing itself, the FBI's analysis of surveillance footage, the murder of MIT officer Sean Collier, a carjacking in Cambridge, the shootout in Watertown, and the final capture of the suspect. Many characters in the film are direct portrayals of real individuals involved, including FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, and Watertown Police Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese. However, the central protagonist, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (played by Mark Wahlberg), is a fictional composite character. This character was created to serve as a narrative anchor, amalgamating the experiences and actions of several different Boston police officers to guide the audience through the disparate events of the week.
By blending dramatized scenes with actual news and surveillance footage from the events, the film aims for a high degree of authenticity and emotional impact. The use of a composite main character is a common cinematic technique in historical dramas, allowing for a more streamlined and personal narrative without deviating from the core historical facts. Therefore, while the film employs creative liberties for storytelling purposes, its fundamental sequence of events and the depiction of the community and law enforcement response are factually based.
