"Bohemian Rhapsody," a movie adaptation of the life of the rock band Queen, recently won Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture-Drama, and Rami Malek, who played legendary lead singer Freddie Mercury won Best Actor-Drama.
After all the winnings, my mom and I decided to go see the film. We sat amongst a pretty decent crowd of people in the theater despite the movie being out for so long. I figured that people saw the movie's Golden Globe wins so they headed out to see it before it leaves theaters. And it really was worth the awards.
I have listened to a couple of Queen's well-known songs, but I never really knew much about the band itself, or its charismatic lead singer. Freddie Mercury was a full of life personality, bringing a playful persona to the stage. I never have seen the band perform, and actor Rami Malek seemed to bring that person to the movie. He even wore fake teeth to capture Mercury's extra toothy smile that allowed him to sing so well.
A large part of the movie focused on Mercury's life and his struggle to accept his sexuality. I think it was good to include such a good amount of that backstory because it really changed Freddie and how he started to live his life. He was unhappy, and that ultimately led to him acting out and letting fame get to his head, and he broke up the band.
However I do think it was important for fans to see the things he was going through, and that he was not just acting like a jerk, he was unhappy with himself. And he realizes this behavior and wants to make amends, and they end up performing an iconic concert. However the movie touches on his AIDS diagnosis, and how he had to deal with that as well. During the time he was diagnosed a lot of men were dying from it as well, and it is sad that a legend like that died so young.
What I also thought was great about the movie was that they gave a lot of background about how their popular songs came to be. I did not know the idea behind their certain songs, like how they wanted more crowd interaction at shows, so they incorporated clapping and stomping that eventually led to "We Will Rock You."
It was truly interesting to see where they drew inspiration from, and how they took risks like having an operatic section in "Bohemian Rhapsody," which was also a six minute song. It was a major controversy because it was so long and a radio station would not play anything over three minutes, yet it became a major hit for the band.
I really enjoyed the immense amount of work that probably went into the movie, from the casting to the costumes. They showed pictures of the actual band members at the end of the movie, and the resemblance between them and the actors is amazing. I definitely think the legacy of Queen was captured, and gave fans and non fans an intimate look at their journey.
