By: Elena Donatone
The success and legacy the famous British band “Queen” left behind can be compared only to a few others in history.
While their music is incredible, what’s even more amazing is their lead singer Freddie Mercury’s story. And the biographical drama Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), directed by Bryan Singer and produced by Queen‘s manager Jim Beach, greatly tells the story of his life and career like never before!
Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), whose real name was Farrokh Bulsara, is a young British man working at Heathrow Airport in London. He lives with his Parsi-Indian immigrant parents and sister, who believe hard work and good deeds are the only way to be respected.
Freddie is clearly different and his passion for singing and going out every night is deeply frowned upon by his strict father.
While at a bar one night, he gets the chance to meet the band “Smile”, who just so happens to need a new lead singer. Freddie offers himself as one and as soon as he brilliantly sings in front of the three musicians, he gets the spot. And the rest is history!
"We're four misfits who don't belong together, we're playing for the other misfits. They're the outcasts right at the back of the room. We're pretty sure they don't belong either. We belong to them."
The band slowly gets more and more recognition and they manage to book a studio to practice and write songs, after selling their van. While in the studio, a music manager spots them and recognise their talent and possible fame. The man signs them up with John Reid (Aidan Gillen), and their career skyrockets from then onwards.
While their fame grows, the lead singer changes the name of the band to Queen and his own to Freddie Mercury, as a statement of independence from his family and his immigrant roots.
Freddie also discovers his sexuality, as at the start of the movie he falls madly in love with Mary, played by the talented Lucy Boynton, and the two even get married. But later on he realises he is gay and although he cares deeply for Mary, Freddie needs to be true to himself in his private life just as he is on stage.
Mary: "What do you want from me, Freddie?"
Freddie: "Almost everything."
The movie greatly pays homage to the legend that Freddie Mercury was and still is. It depicts his private life just as much as his public life, and it tells the tragic events that lead to Freddie Mercury contracting AIDS as well.
Rami Malek is breath-taking as Freddie and he rightly won an Academy Award for "Best Actor" in 2019 for his performance.
He amazingly lets us go on a journey with him as he transforms himself into the rock legend Freddie was.
Although Malek’s appearance resembles Mercury’s one a bit, what makes his performance so authentic is his clear passion for the role. Every aspect of Malek screams Freddie Mercury, from his walk and style to his exuberant personality.
Remi Malek reminds us once again how unique the singer was and how true to himself he always wanted to be.
The other band members, played by Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello and Gwilym Lee, are just as amazing! The chemistry between them is undeniable and makes you care for this band of misfits even more!
The anecdotes told in Bohemian Rhapsody are quite interesting and they give us a peek into their career and their story.
As an example, the movie tells us the song "Bohemian Rhapsody", one of Queen’s greatest successes, was not praised by music critics at first and their label thought it wasn’t going to be a hit as it was too long and with opera parts in it.
But Queen wanted it to be their hit song, as they worked on it for weeks in an isolated farm in England.
Freddie and the other members cared about "Bohemian Rhapsody" so much that they decided to leave their label for it and the song turned out to be one of the greatest of all time!
"We're family. We believe in each other. That's everything."
But some of the facts in the movie are inaccurate. For example, neither Queen nor Freddie knew about the lead singer’s disease before the concert of Live Aid, while in the movie they did for dramatic purposes.
But even if some facts are inaccurate, it is clear the decision to change them was made because the movie isn’t a documentary and the director took some artistic liberties for entertainment value.
The end of Bohemian Rhapsody is very emotional and probably my favourite part of the movie. The last few scenes depict Queen performing live in 1985 at one of the greatest music events of all time: Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in London.
While they perform their greatest hits, we are reminded of how much of an impact Queen left on the genre of rock and the world in general. And how much Freddie Mercury lived being unapologetically himself until the end. As we know, he sadly died of AIDS in 1991, at the age of 45. But his legacy, as Bohemian Rhapsody beautifully reminds us, will live forever!
"You’re a legend, Fred."
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