★★★★☆

DESPITE what the superhero-dominated Hollywood landscape might suggest, not all heroes wear capes. The second film to be based on the 2013 Boston marathon bombing focuses not on the search for the terrorist perpetrators, as was the subject of last year’s terrifically tense Patriot’s Day, but rather on the devastatingly human effect it had on one brave survivor of the attack.

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a powerful, awards-worthy performance as Jeff Bauman, an everyday Boston citizen who decides to attend the city’s annual marathon to support his on-again-off-again girlfriend Erin (Tatiana Maslany) who is taking part in the race. Unfortun-ately Jeff was standing right where one of the bombs went off.

He awakens in the hospital to find that his injuries have led to both his legs being amputated above the knees. As he struggles to recover and adjust to life, he starts to find hope in his reconciled relationship with Erin and the support of his family and friends, becoming a symbol for the city’s newfound motto “Boston Strong”.

Much like last week’s Wonder, this hugely affecting effort from eclectic director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Our Brand Is Crisis) earns its emotional impact by transcending cheap and obvious schmaltz with an undoubtedly rousing yet wholly grounded portrayal of soldiering on in the face of a horrendous ordeal.

It’s a surprisingly low-key and deliberately paced drama for the most part, thanks to Green’s measured direction and John Pollono’s precise script (based on Bauman’s own memoir) that takes it time to allow the raw emotions to rage and bellow throughout Bauman’s life, bringing out authentic notes of emotional honesty that you don’t see very often in this type of story.

It never sugar-coats Bauman’s physical and emotional trauma, showing that the road to recovery and moving on is filled with light and dark, good days and bad, and that those around you are hurting too. In Bauman’s case it’s his girlfriend Erin, played with touching compassion by Maslany, and an enthralling Miranda Richardson as his brash mother Patty who puts on a brave face as she tries to figure out just how best to support her son.

In many ways it’s as much a deep dive into the shattering and rippling effect of post-traumatic stress as it is a view of everyman bravery. But importantly it’s never a film to rest easy on the idea of automatic heroes or that it’s easy to fit into that mould; Bauman is the first one to question why everyone is holding him aloft simply because he lost his legs due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nor does it go down the easy hagiographical route of painting him as a saint without fault. The celebrity status suddenly thrust upon him – not least because his sighting of one of the bombers helped police resolve the manhunt – doesn’t come easy for him.

Conveyed beautifully in Gyllenhaal’s tremendously powerful but rarely showy central performance, we are presented with a multifaceted, warts-and-all portrayal of how a hitherto ordinary man of Boston feels the need to prove himself worthy of the kind of admiration afforded by a traumatised city while utterly determined not to be defined by tragedy.