Yes, the 2016 film Patriots Day is based on the true story of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the city-wide manhunt that followed. The screenplay was adapted from the non-fiction book Boston Strong: A City's Triumph over Tragedy by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge, which documents the terrorist attack and the subsequent investigation.
The film reconstructs the timeline of the actual events, which began on April 15, 2013, when two pressure-cooker bombs detonated near the marathon's finish line. It details the intensive, four-day investigation led by the FBI and various local law enforcement agencies to identify the perpetrators, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The narrative includes key factual events such as the murder of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, a carjacking, the firefight in Watertown, and the final capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
While the film adheres closely to the established facts and timeline, it utilizes dramatic license for narrative purposes. For instance, the main character, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (played by Mark Wahlberg), is a composite figure created to represent the perspectives and actions of several different Boston police officers involved in the events. The film integrates actual news footage and surveillance imagery with its dramatized scenes to create a docudrama that chronicles the tragedy and celebrates the response of first responders and the resilience of the city.
