My Experience of Bohemian Rhapsody

I am a superfan of Queen since the 70s. I see Bohemian Rhapsody as a long overdue celebration of the music, the band members, and Freddie Mercury.

No, it was not entirely factual. The timeline was mixed up. It didn't show a lot of Queen milestones. For example, Queen was invited to perform on Top of the Pops but couldn't make it, so they created the "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video to be shown in their place. It was the beginning of music videos as we know them today. Also, Queen toured a lot more than what was shown. They were the opening band for Mott the Hoople in the US. It was a huge break for them in the early 70s, but Brian got sick and they had to cancel after the tour got started. They performed in Sun City, to the dismay of all the other bands who refused because of Apartheid. Queen was non-political, though, and just wanted to play for the fans. Queen stories go on and on, and I imagine it was very difficult to choose which stories would make the cut in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Regardless of the inaccuracies and timeline, I was mesmerized by the movie, because it was so current and alive. It was a celebration of a band that was mostly forgotten after Freddie Mercury died. Queen never got the full recognition in the States after their Hot Space flop in 1982. Younger people had no idea that many of the songs they grew up hearing were from Queen. 

The movie did the most important thing a biopic can do: it captured the essence of Queen, their music, their energy, their success. I felt like Freddie was alive again for two hours. Rami Malek could not have done better at capturing Freddie's gestures and nuances, as well as his personality.  When I learned that Brian May and Roger Taylor would be involved in the film, I knew it was going to be good. They would never allow for Freddie's life to be about dying. Freddie never stopped living, never stopped writing songs, even on his deathbed.  They made sure that Freddie himself would be satisfied with the movie. I just wish Jer Bulsara, Freddie's mother, had lived long enough to see it, but she died three years too soon. She would have been so proud.

Those are the things I thought of while watching the movie. Rumors had been flying for years about a biopic, but I assumed nothing would come of it. I honestly didn't see it coming. Now I plan to see it as many times on the big screen that I can. It wasn't just a movie, it was an experience!