For intimate narratives that are about incomplete or in-progress healing, and the elements of lives that are changed forever, the approach can feel too tidy.
As directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, Marathon benefits from the filmmakers clear-eyed, meticulous chronology of the events and their steady focus on the survivors.
Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing is both a comprehensive look at the reprehensible act of terrorism at the worldwide event, but a deeply human one, that follows a trio of families... even as they try to move past it.
It focuses, rightly so, on the survivors, still courageously trying to overcome their wounds - and on those who didn't survive, to whom the film is dedicated.
Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's moving HBO documentary Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing, produced with help from the Boston Globe, can be viewed as a thoughtful study of the lessons of magnitude.
