Boheman Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody
A Film Review

Last night we watched “Bohemian Rhapsody” which retells the story of one of the greatest rock groups, Queen, from the formation of the band in 1970 to their Live Aid appearance in 1985 although much of the storyline focuses on its flamboyant frontman, Freddie Mercury.

Personally, I was utterly gobsmacked to learn he was actually a Parsee by the name of Farrokh Bulsara ( am I the only one that didn’t know?) and although born in Tanzania, spent his childhood in India with his Gujarati parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara and sister, Kashmira, before the family relocated from Bombay to England. If Wikipedia existed in the seventies, I would have known about his ethnicity - can’t believe I found this fact about 40 or so years later. The word “Bismillah” in the lyric Bohemian Rhapsody hinted at his Arabic heritage but how was I to know with all the other nonsense words like Scaramouche, fandango, Galileo Galilei and Figaro.

The movie starts with showing Mercury on his previous job as a bag handler at Heathrow Airport and then him offering to join Roger Taylor and Brian May as lead singer of their band, Smile, when their own lead upped and left. From small gigs in bar rooms to concert halls to big open air stadiums, the band, renamed Queen ( because as Freddie says “it’s a strong name: it’s regal, universal and immediate”) journeys through a meteoric rise that culminates in the most epic rock performance of all time at the Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium. Queen, with its original and pioneering music scores, was so different from any other band and contrary to what their record producer, Ray Foster (Mike Myers) thought that their experimental music which seamlessly stitched ballad, rock, gospel, disco and opera together will go nowhere, they became a hit with millions of youngsters the world over. When interviewed by John Reid who asked them what is the secret of the band’s phenomenal success, Mercury replied: : “Tell you what it is, Mr. Reid. Now 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.” No band involved audience participation like Queen did as shots of the thronging masses filling stadiums bursting at the seams testifies ( probably enhanced by CGI graphics).

Whilst the story of the band unravels, the audience is offered a backdrop of their all-too-familiar renditions of their iconic, experimental music and lyrics to which we all know the words of (even my 17 year old daughter who was born at least four decades later). On a parallel vein, we are allowed a glimpse into the tortured life of the rock god, Freddie Mercury, whose rise to fame is punctuated by moments of sweetness and sadness.

Thankfully the blinds are drawn to the audience for the actual drug scenes, the cocaine-fuelled, wild parties and the sexual encounters in which he indulges his lust for young men - we are just given hints that these happened which is a mercy when you are watching the movie with a teenage daughter. We also get to see the softer side of Freddie with his extraordinary outpouring of love for his beloved cats and the sweet, enduring love that he had for the 19 year old shop assistant, Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton). Although they lived together for 6 years and he was engaged to her, they never married because of the realisation that he was gay.

The casting was superb which is evidenced by the fact that you can’t distinguish between the real footage in the end when the credits roll on and the film version of the characters. Egyptian born, Rami Malek, nailed his role as the exuberant and outlandish lead singer, Freddie Mercury: from the protruding dentures, to the confident sassy strut in tights right up to the singing ( of some songs) - he was born to play this part. It was also interesting to discover their previous jobs before they formed the band: Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy), the drummer, was a dentist, Brian May ( Gwilym Lee), the lead guitarist, was an astro physicist, John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello), bass guitarist, was an electrical engineer while Freddie Mercury(Rami Malek) successfully completed a graphic design course.

All the gifted musicians of our time that departed too soon like Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, George Michael, David Bowie , Whitney Houston and Freddie Mercury produced music that is so hauntingly beautiful and so utterly brilliant that leads one to wonder whether the pains of rejection that comes with being hurt, lonely and a misfit is a necessary ingredient for their exceptional musical genius.

When some movies hit the big screen you can afford to miss out and catch it on DVD later - not this one. No sirree! Like Freddie Mercury himself, it’s loud, it’s bombastic and its blustering boom-boom rhythm transcends this silver screen production to a musical extravaganza which must be seen at the cinemas. Like the effervescent lead singer who reportedly boasted a four octave voice range himself said:

“A concert is not a live rendition of our album. It’s a theatrical event” which is why you must go to the cinema to watch this. The fact that my daughter enjoys and knows all the lyrics of Queen some 50 years later is a true testimony of their legendary legacy and it is so wonderful that people separated by entire generations two-, three- or four- fold can unite and sing along as we celebrate their collective musical magic. No Freddie, YOU are the champion. 

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