Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic of records about the immortal frontman of Queenis on the air this evening at 9.20pm on Rai 2. The film, which stars an extraordinary Rami Malek in the role of Freddie, recounts the first fifteen years of the group’s life. From its birth to the memorable concert at Live Aid of 1985. At the same time, and also a journey to discover man Mercury. He passed away at just 45 years old in 1991 due to bronchopneumonia aggravated by complications due to AIDS.
Bohemian Rhapsodythe plot of the movie
London, 1970, Farrokh “Freddie” Bulsara (Rami Malek) he is a young man full of dreams, the son of immigrants, who works at Heathrow Airport. One evening after a concert, go talk to drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) and guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and, knowing that their singer is about to abandon them, offers himself as the new frontman. Initially snubbed because of his protruding teeth, Freddie wins them over with a demonstration of his extraordinary vocal ability.
Freddie he then begins dating Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), while with the band, which has since been renamed Queenimmediately achieved overwhelming success. The following years are triumphal: sold out concerts, number one hits and tours around the world. Although Freddie has to struggle with his father’s rejection that he does not believe in a musical career and would have wanted him to be a doctor.
In parallel, Freddie begins to have more and more doubts about his sexuality and in 1975 the singer leaves Mary – who however will remain his “love of my life” for the rest of his life, and begins a relationship with Paul (Allen Leech), the band’s manager who however creates tensions and arguments between the group members.
After a dark period, Queen returns to grind out successes in the 1980s but the joy is overshadowed by Freddie’s discovery of having contracted AIDS. An awareness that, however, will not stop the volcanic leader, ready to give the performance of his life to Live Aid benefit concert in 1985.
An intense but unbalanced biopic
Despite one endless series of problems – “original” director Bryan Singer removed from production and replaced by Dexter Fletcher – Bohemian Rhapsody it’s a solid, competent biopic. Which traces the life of Freddie Mercury with great affection and tenderness. Although not exactly historically accurate-
Favoring a simple system accessible to allthe film chooses a classic and linear narrative. Free of authorial ambitionsprobably due to the change underway in the control room, in the first part it flows quickly. Then, when it turns towards the personal drama of its protagonist, unfortunately the screenplay expands in favor of a somewhat forced drama.
Rami Malek in a scene from “Bohemian Rhapsody”. (Photo by Alex Bailey 20th Century Fox)
The problem in fact is that While the Queen frontman’s private story is adventurous and moving, the band’s road to glory is relatively obstacle-free. Two parallel lines that unfortunately struggle to find a narrative balance.
The movie though has a secret weapon: Rami Malek. The actor in fact he is simply spectacular as Freddie Mercury. Histrionic and flamboyant, it gives a practically perfect performance, aimed at total resemblance to his character. Be careful though, the voice we hear singing is not Malek’s, but that one by singer Marc Martelas well as obviously Freddie Mercury’s original songs.
The historical inaccuracies of Bohemian Rhapsody
Highly appreciated by the general public, also thanks to its engaging nature soundtrack with Queen’s greatest hitsthe film was criticized by the band’s fans for some inaccuracies regarding Freddie’s story and the band. Highlighted by some English sites.
The first and more important change that the film makes, in favor of narrationis that Freddie Mercury didn’t know he had AIDS when he performed at Live Aid in ’85because he discovered he was HIV positive only in 1987. It is not even accurate that before that unforgettable concert the band had not played together for years, in fact they did a promotional tour for the album “The Works”, from August 1984 to May 1985 .
Moving on to details from real experts, modified in the film to make the story more intriguing, it should be noted that Queen could not have sung Fat Bottomed Girl during their 1974 American tour, because the song was composed and recorded much later, in 1978. Same thing for We Will Rock You. In the film the song was composed in 1980, but was actually released in 1977.
Furthermore, in the biopic Freddie decides to pursue a career as a soloist first, destroying the band. But in reality before him Roger Taylor released two solo albumsin 1983 and 1984, and also Brian May he made one in 1983. Moreover, the solo careers of all three did not provoke never the dissolution of the band which always remained united. Even the story involving the manager John Reid was dramatizedaccording to sources at the time John Reid left in friendship.
Finally, just for the sake of accuracy, in the film Freddie Mercury meets Jim Hutton, his future partner, after a party, where Hutton was a waiter. In his autobiography he instead said that they met in 1980 in the London club “Heaven”.
Rami Malek, an Oscar-worthy performance
Born in 1981 in California to Egyptian parentsthe actor debuted in cinema in 2006 as a pharaoh in the film with Ben Stiller A night at the museum. Role he will resume in two sequels subsequent ones.
Rami Malek and ex-girlfriend Lucy Boynton in a 2021 photo (Getty Images)
After years of small roles, the big opportunity arrives in 2015 with the series Mr. Robot. Thanks to Elliot Alderson’s part, computer engineer victim of delusions paranoid, the actor wins an Emmy Award and the attention of professionals. Two years later he was offered to embody Freddie Mercury and the rest is recent history. Oscar for Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody included.
As regards private life, on set of Bohemian RhapsodyBranches he got engaged to his co-star Lucy Boynton however, after five years, the two broke up last August. Today Lucy is dating guitarist Murdo Mitchell while Rami has recently made his relationship with Emma Corrin official. The actress he played Lady Diana in the fourth season of The Crown.
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