"Loss changes us. Tragedy tests us. Strength defines us." This is Stronger. This biographical drama film directed by David Gordon Green, written by John Pollono, and based on the memoir of the same name by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter. Bauman loses both of his legs when two bombs explode during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. After regaining consciousness in the hospital, Bauman is able to help law enforcement identify one of the suspects, but his own battle is just beginning. With unwavering support from his family and girlfriend, Bauman embarks on a long and heroic journey to physical and emotional rehabilitation.
In mid July 2014, it was reported that Lionsgate was developing a film based on Bauman's memoir, with Pollono writing the script. In mid July 2015, Green signed on to direct the film. In late July, it was reported that Jake Gyllenhaal was in talks to play Bauman. By early April, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown, and Frankie Shaw rounded out the film's cast as Erin Hurley, Patty Bauman, Jeff Bauman Sr., and Gail Hurley respectively. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and filming took place in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City. It was filmed at the same time as Patriots Day (2016), the other Boston Marathon bombing-related movie. Dan Whelton portrayed Bauman. Many minor characters in the film are played by themselves, including most of the medical professionals, who re-enacted the real events in unscripted scenes. Dr. Jeffrey Kalish removes the bandages from Gyllenhaal's legs just as he had from Bauman's, and five members of the Martino family play themselves at United Prosthetics. Others include the rehab techs and nurses at Spalding Rehab, and first responder Jerry Kissel. Bauman's former supervisor at Costco, Kevin, auditioned to play himself in the movie. Although he was not chosen for the part he is an extra in more than one scene.
The film stars Gyllenhaal, Maslany, Richardson, Brown, and Shaw. The film's success is due in large part to actors who are both faithful to all the real-life figures and the social minutiae, as well as being dramatic enough to keep you watching. The characters and the performances get inside your skin, your soul. It's enough to make you want to cry.
With fine acting and considerable emotional depth, Stronger aptly captures the horror, and especially the highs of the Boston Marathon Bombings and its aftermath from Bauman's perspective. The film is a compelling, and grim, portrait of Bostonian lives gone wrong, largely thanks to its disturbingly good script. So when the film's moment of horror arrives, it's not with suspense but instead the sort of dully anticipatory inevitability that drains as much energy from the story as from the audience. The film shows how Bauman and the people around him learn codes of survival and perseverance from the devastation of the bombings and its aftermath, but when they try to pull them off in crucial situations they do come out standard, and cliched.
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