Patriot’s Day is a 2016 film about the Boston Marathon bombings in 2014.
10 out of 10 stars. Beautifully written and executed story of the April 15, 2014 bombings.
This was the story of a city that was attacked from within by two disgruntled Russian Muslim exiles with nothing but rage in their hearts. Their names are Dzhokhar “Jahal” Tsarnaev (19 years old), Tamerlan Tsarnaev (his 26 year old brother), and Katherine Russell (Tamerlan’s 24 year old American wife). The three of them spent the days leading up to the Boston Marathon making bombs in their kitchen with Tamerlan and Katherine’s four year old daughter in the same room. If that doesn’t shock you, Katherine was never charged and is a free woman with custody of her four year old daughter. :0 American terrorists should have their citizenship revoked.
The story is told from several viewpoints–the victims, the bombers, the cops, the FBI, and the myriad of people who helped catch them. Most of the story is told through the viewpoint of one Boston police officer, Sergeant Tommy Saunders, who was feet away from the first bomb. He was responsible for the quick mobilization of the first responders and cordoning off the area. It also shows the two bombers and the oldest brother’s wife. Their rage is so displaced. When Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev placed their bombs, Dzhokhar put his next to an eight year old boy who was killed and Tamerlan placed his next to a three year old boy’s stroller. (His father’s leg saved him.) That’s one of the most vile acts ever to take place on American soil.
After the bombings, the FBI comes in and takes over the investigation, keeping the other authorities in the loop. Saunders, along with the Boston PD, had already gathered all the video footage from stores and buildings as well as spectators. The FBI collated that and looked for suspicious people. They found one wearing a white hat (Dzhokhar) and he led them to the second bomber, his brother Tamerlan (blue hat). Following these two men through the video footage would’ve taken thousands of man hours except for Saunders’ knowledge of the area and which way the store cameras were pointed. He walked the FBI backwards through the area so they could gather the right store camera footage and that’s how the bombers were named so quickly. So kudos to FBI agent Richard DesLauriers who was smart enough to do that.
Another hero was Chinese student Dun Meng who was carjacked by the two bombers when they planned on bombing New York Times Square. He jumped from his vehicle and ran to an open gas station to contact the police and give them the GPS number of his car so they could catch the two bombers. And they did. Once they were cornered in a small neighborhood in nearby Watertown, Massachusetts, they threw bombs at the police. I didn’t even know that and it was shocking to watch. Then Dzhokhar drove over his brother Tamerlan to escape and was caught hiding in an elderly couple’s boat when the Massachusetts governor locked down the city and did a house to house search.
10 out of 10 stars. There’s so much in here. Even if you think you know what happened, you probably missed a lot. Watch this.
If you go to the wikipedia pages for the bombers (including Katherine Russell) you’ll see they’ve been linked to other murders as well.
As disturbing as the background behind the Boston Marathon bombings is, most disturbing was reading a news article that said Katherine Russell purchased the items for the bombs with money she received from welfare (AFDC). :0 The photo on the left of Katherine Russell was her mugshot for shoplifting.
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