The 2016 film Patriots Day is a docudrama that strategically incorporates a significant amount of authentic archival footage. The movie combines its dramatized narrative, featuring actors in scripted scenes, with real-world media from the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent manhunt. This hybrid filmmaking approach grounds the cinematic retelling in the actual historical events to enhance realism and provide a sense of immediacy.
The authentic material integrated throughout the film includes extensive closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance footage, which was critical in the real-life investigation to identify the perpetrators. The production also utilizes clips from local and national news broadcasts that covered the events as they unfolded, capturing the genuine reactions of journalists, officials, and the public. This technique involves intercutting the real footage with reenactments, often to show the actual locations, the perpetrators, or the chaos of the event, thereby bridging the gap between the film's narrative and the audience's memory of the news coverage.
The primary function of using this real-world video is to heighten the film's verisimilitude and emotional impact. By juxtaposing the polished, dramatized sequences with the raw, unfiltered nature of archival media, the film creates an immersive experience that blurs the line between a traditional motion picture and a documentary. This stylistic choice establishes the film not simply as a fictional interpretation but as a historical reconstruction that uses primary source visuals to anchor its portrayal of the tragedy and its aftermath.
