OF STRONGER
Gyllenhaal stars in satisfying true story of an everyman’s resilience
Autumn is the traditional season of feel-good biopics. This year’s crop includes stories of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, FBI whistleblower Mark Felt, Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston, Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne and 1990s AIDS activists — and that’s just a partial list.
This week brings us Stronger, the story of Jeff Bauman, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal as a genial underachiever, the kind of guy who might tell his girlfriend he’ll be there to watch her cross the Boston Marathon finish line, then not show up. All of which made it cruelly ironic when he got there in 2013, only to fall victim to a terrorist bombing. He lost both legs in the blast.
Director David Gordon Green chooses not to focus on the event itself, nor on the hunt for the terrorists; besides, Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg covered that story in Patriots Day back in 2016. What we get instead is a close look at Bauman, whose natural good humour is sorely tested by his injuries. Even so, when he wakes up in hospital, legless and briefly unable to talk, his second written message is a joke: “Lieutenant Dan.”
His first is to inquire about his girlfriend, Erin, who was uninjured. She is played by Tatiana Maslany (TV’s Orphan Black), nicely internalizing the mix of affection, guilt and confusion that must have washed over her every time they were together after the attack. Her performance is set in perfect relief by that of Miranda Richardson, trading her Southport British accent for a South Boston one, and playing Bauman’s sometimes overwhelmed, often overwhelming mother.
The film may shy away from large-scale carnage (with one notable exception, when Bauman has a flashback), but it peers closely and unselfconsciously at the small indignities with which the disabled must contend.
Bauman’s centre of gravity has changed, which means he’s forever overbalancing and falling on his face. He eschews psychological help and falls behind in physiotherapy, even though he clearly needs both.
Taking on the real-life role of Bauman, Gyllenhaal rides the emotional roller-coaster of finding himself famous for doing very little other than not dying when a bomb took his legs out from under him. Green is working from a screenplay by John Pollono, itself adapted from Bauman’s autobiography, and while the team mostly sticks to the standard biopic beats, there’s enough variety to surprise and occasionally delight.
Sometimes it’s odd, like a hospital visit from Bauman’s manager that plays like a corporate video from the HR department at Costco. And when, late in the tale, we meet Carlos (Carlos Sanz), who helped Bauman in the first moments after the bombing, there’s a sense that this guy deserves more screen time, maybe even his own movie.
Still, this is a satisfying story of an everyman’s resilience. Shakespeare said that some are born great and some achieve greatness; Stronger celebrates the rare third type that had greatness thrust upon ’em, though not in a way any of us would choose.