Bohemian Rhapsody

MFC Review

Queen has gone down in history as one of the greatest bands ever. Born in the 70’s, it has become the voice of many generations. Its growth has always been defined by their musical strength, artistic courage and, of course, Freddie Mercury’s thundering personality.

Originally named Farrokh Bulsara, Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar on September 5, 1946, and the history of his rising up to greatness is the cornerstone for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). This biopic was directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men: Apocalypse, 2016), finished by Dexter Fletcher and supported from the beginning by Queen’s original guitarist and drummer, Brian May and Roger Taylor.

Bohemian Rhapsody was the result of a long and rough production process. The project begun in 2010, with Sacha Baron Cohen (Les Misérables, 2012) as the first option for playing Freddie Mercury’s part. Regardless of the British actor’s vocal skills and his resemblance with the singer, the plan was quickly dropped because of creative differences with Queen members. The project was retaken on 2013 with Dexter Fletcher as the director and Ben Whishaw (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, 2006) as Mercury, but was dropped once again for the same reasons. It wasn’t until 2016 that the promising performance of Rami Malek as Freddie was announced, along with Bryan Singer as the director, replaced by Fletcher during the final weeks of filming.

Although the project didn’t seem to add up, the first peeks at Rami Malek‘s performance caused hope to grow among fans. Malek managed to capture the appearance, body language and expressions of Freddie Mercury in such a great way that Brian May himself said that Mercury would be very proud. Leaning on the voice of the Canadian singer Marc Martel, Malek lost himself in the role and gave us the memorable performance that granted him the Oscar for Best Actor in 2019.

Despite the movie being filled with the common biopic clichés, such as excessive montages, narrative jumps and historical inaccuracy for dramatic sake, Bohemian Rhapsody manages to deepen the creative process behind the most emblematic Queen songs, giving us a glimpse at the motivations of each member and the relationships that led the band to greatness.

Full of awesome performances and iconic moments in music history, Bohemian Rhapsody is, without any doubt, an ode to creativity and to the power art has to fill the world with joy.