This is the Pure Movies review of Stronger, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Richard Lane Jr. and Nate Richman. It’s very easy to look upon film adaptations of real-life atrocities with a healthy degree of cynicism. ‘How can you even think about converting tragedy into commercial product?’ you might think, and sometimes this is a perfectly valid question. More often than not, though, such works can shed an illuminating light on the national psyche, whether it’s a nuanced rumination on the complexity of understanding random acts of violence (Elephant), a visceral dramatisation of one of the defining moments in modern history (United 93) or a simple act of providing a human face to an all-too-common headline (Fruitvale Station). Stronger, David Gordon Green’s contribution to the dialogue, takes a story that could easily become mired in cloying gung-ho American flag-waving and,...