Bohemian Rhapsody Review

After being in the works since 2010, Bohemian Rhapsody truly lived up to the expectations. it has you laughing, crying and stomping your feet throughout. It isn’t just a film celebrating the incredible music of one of the greatest rock bands the world has ever seen, but it looks at the intimate moments within the band, the “in-between moments” as quoted in the film itself.

To see the band dynamics as they were off stage is one thing but to see behind the star that was Freddie Mercury and see the human being Freddie Mercury is truly the most compelling aspect of the film. The film isn’t scared to look at the uglier and heart-breaking sides of Mercurys life and personality. He is the leading man, a joker and an artist but he is also shown as the man who struggled with his drug issues, his sexuality and relationships for a considerable amount of his life.

I have read other reviews on the film, stating that the film attempts to hide Freddies true sexuality and his wild sexual behaviour with men, this is a massive misrepresentation of the film. Yes, his relationship with Mary Austin is the one most focused on within the film, Freddie and Marys relationship was a massive part of his life that affected both of them permanently, Mary was at the heart of the film at every turn. But his relationship with men and his sexual behaviour, even whilst still romantically involved with Mary, is very apparent, shown in scenes of him in bars and clubs and after shows. I think the representation of his sexuality is very clear in the film, the film was not made to look at his sexuality and that only it was made to look at his life, and that I think they achieved beautifully, defining him as a person, not only a personality or simply his sexuality. People are complex and multi-dimensional, and they deserve to be represented in this way.

The performances in this film are also worth a note, not only Rami Maleks performance as Freddie but, Gwilym Lee as Brian May, Joe Mazzello as John Deacon and Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor all gave exceptional performances. The four of them fully embodied the band member they were playing entirely, the actors themselves became invisible, leaving only the four men they were playing. Maleks performance as Freddie was of course extraordinary both his transformation physically and within himself as a person, part of the spirit of Mercury was surely in him somewhere when playing the part. Brian May himself has stated that Malek deserves an Oscar nomination for his performance, but in a perfect world I think all four of the actors in this film would deserve the recognition.

In one word, this film is, AMAZING! From the performances, the way they chose to tell the story and of course the music! Everything more than lived up to its expectations. I think for me what part of the film that got me the most, emotionally that is, is the honest and raw way the life of Freddie Mercurys was depicted, the film strips away the layers of being an icon and shows him as a human being, in all of his glory and his ups and downs. If you see one film this month make it this one!