Bohemian Rhapsody

By Joyce St. Antoine

A biopic about Freddie Mercury hit the big screens last October. It starred Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor and had a special role for Mike Myers. It is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their famous lead singer. It took place in the year 1970, where we see Farrokh Bulsara also known as Freddie Mercury form into the singer he is remembered for today. It is considered a biographical film which is close in accuracy thanks to the touches of film rendering. However, some scenes were not accurate nor happened at all.

At the beginning of the movie, Farrokh went to a bar to see the band “Smile” perform. Moments after, we see their lead singer quit due to a better career offer and leaves the other two band members in the back of their van. Farrokh goes searching for the bandmates to congratulate them on a good set, and meets a red-haired woman asking for directions.

He goes outside, as to where the bandmates are, meets the bandmates, they introduce themselves and discusses their future of their torn broken band. After their conversation, Farrokh ends up walking away. 

Then the band comes together at the same bar later on and performs with Brian May, guitarist, drummer Roger Taylor, bassist John Deacon, and now the new lead singer, Farrokh Bulsara. Farrokh sings in front of the woman and the crowd at the bar, singing “Keep Yourself Alive,” and it is their first gig. However, Brian points out a few flipped lyrics that are incorrect but keeps the set going.

On Farrokh’s birthday, he invites his band mates to his home and the phone rings. His sister answers it, and it is someone looking for “Freddie Mercury”. It is a dramatic scene because this is Farrokh’s new stage name. His father dislikes it due to the fact that he is not staying true to his Indian heritage with the last name. This is where Queen starts. Freddie sketched out the new name for their band on paper and admits that there is nobody more ‘dramatic’ than the Queen of England.

The making of the song “Love of my Life” was empowering. Freddie wrote this song for Mary, who became his lover until the moment he presented the song to her. He showed part a video of Queen’s concert where the crowd was singing the song, and he says, “They’re singing it to you” because he wrote it for her to show how much he loves her. But, there’s a twist to the ending scene. Mary breaks up with him after he admits he is bisexual. However, she realizes he might actually be gay, not admitting it to himself nor her in the scene just yet. They stayed friends in the end.

As the viewer, there was a moment where Freddie was exploring his gender fluidity and sexuality.  He visits Mary at her job in a clothing store and she gives him an ascot and applies makeup. The costumes in the movie fit the 1970s perfectly with the boas, high boots and flowery patterns. When Freddie gets older, his messy hair is cut short and is wearing better looking clothes all which the costume designer did well on. I believe Rami playing Freddie was a good match, all of his features were similar, especially with the practice, studies and rehearsals he did to ace the role.

There were many photography like shots which made me very happy especially with the fact that this movie perfectly angled Freddie’s life. The videographer shot a scene where it could have been a photo. His iconic aviator glasses sat on a table and Freddie was reflected through the lens. It is creative and brilliantly set up.

As a music lover, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I saw it twice in the theatres. It certainly captures his life up until the end of the movie. Everyone is wanting a sequel and yes, sometimes sequels cannot be good, but there is no need for this one. Despite its many awards won, Bohemian Rhapsody deserves a 4.5/5 star rating.