Patriots Day

Patriots Day

[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

Patriots Day

Patriots Day is the American Crime drama film that recreates the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013. The film takes some of the characters who had witnessed the scene, and some fictional characters. The film was unfortunately not a box office hit, and many questions are raised on the accuracy of events. It is a reasonable fact that creating a totally true historical feature is not easy, and this film is no different. This paper seeks to highlight my review and an analysis of film events pertaining to true historical events.

In my opinion, Patriots Day is a decent movie regardless of the fact that I consider it propaganda. It’s a pro-police and pro-FBI puff piece, so they basically leave out all the ways the FBI screwed up. The Russian government repeatedly warned both the FBI and the CIA that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a dangerous terrorist, yet the FBI had no problem allowing him to travel back and forth from Chechnya to the US. It is because, in my opinion, Tamerlan was a paid informant working for the FBI. I wonder why that fact, easily available on the Internet, somehow got left out of the movie. I also found propaganda in the statement when the brothers repeatedly said that they thought that it wasn’t the Saudi terrorist who perpetrated 9/11, but the US government. Anyway, this is just what I caught. I’m sure someone else might have found some details like these.

To a certain degree, the patriot is based upon the real events that occurred in America that were still being ruled by many European countries. In fact, that scene was meant to show the people that was a part of a military tactic used to create fear in the eyes of the rebels. Since the worst thing they could do was to torture and kill their loved ones if they didn't give up the fight. The movie also lacked the dramatic tension that is needed but it depicted that the filmmakers have made great efforts to remain closer to the accurate events. Thus, the final product was in the middle, one can say a procedural precision tangled with the fictional characters, particularly Tommy Saunders. The city fighters also declared that the movie glossed over their role in responding to the blast pertaining to helping others and saving lives CITATION Pet16 \l 1033 (Berg, 2016).

The accuracy of the movie is also judged on the fact that there is no direct historical recording of the incident. According to some critics, it is based on a Nazi atrocity committed 170 years later. Western armies had a reputation for being very honorable and civilized through most of the 18th century, to the point that 500 French and an equal number of British called on each other to open the fire, first at the battle of Fontenay in 1745. There really should have been a special disclaimer at the beginning of the patriot to avoid libeling the British. Killing civilians in this way was fairly standard procedure for an army occupying a country. Germans did this as well in WW2 if a soldier turned up dead with no real suspect other than the local population. It was common to kill multiple civilians to discourage them from further armed resistance. Nothing saps the morale of the local population like seeing their loved ones killed in front of their eyes.

Overall, in my opinion, the movie was a very realistic and good representation of the actual events. I think for me it is just too soon. This is a movie that, if it had been made back 15 years, I think I would have been happier with it because it is so close to when the actual events happened. I also think that having a made-up character taking us through the entire plot was disrespectful. It should have been about the story, not about a character. This movie did not need that. I think this movie probably plays better elsewhere, especially in places where events like this have not happened with in the last few years. Again, I think that is what the issue is for me. I would rate it a 4.5/5 otherwise, but instead of the timing and the made-up character, I have to give it a 3/5. Also, do they know what Deval Patrick looks and sounds like because the actor they got barely looks like him and did not even attempt to try to sound like him. Everyone else they got realistic counterparts except Governor Patrick.

To sum up, I would say this is a movie that might feel true to some and some may not be able to relate it to accurate historical events. Some of the features that link it to the true events are two characters Dzokhar Tsarnaev (Alex Wolff) and Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Themo Melikidze). It is true that every film based on true events cannot clearly depict the accuracy of the events. Like every other Hollywood movie, it also lacked the ability to epitomize actually what happened that day. It surely depicts some events accurately such as the race that day, timings of the bombs’ explosion, furthermore it showed how Steve Woolfenden alongside his son was injured. Overall, it made a really good crime action movie, highlighting some key details of the bombings.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Berg, P. (Director). (2016). Patriots Day [Motion Picture].

Guermazi, A., Hayashi, D., Smith, S. E., Palmer, W., & Katz, J. N. (2013). Imaging of blast injuries to the lower extremities sustained in the Boston marathon bombing. Arthritis care and research (2010), 65(12), 1893-1898.