If there was one film in this 2018 that attracted attention and controversy that was Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Biopic about Freddy Mercury and Bryan Singer's Queen split the critics and in part the audience receiving fierce criticism for some passages that are not very realistic according to some but just as much applause for the way Singer treated the birth and history of one of the most influential bands in the history of music and not only rock.
And to say that this biopic saw among the authors also one of the historical members of the band, that Brian May who many saw as the architect of a very good history with Queen and not very lenient with his performer who died at only 45 years old on November 24, 1991.
After all the controversy and divisions, the film was a resounding box office success and the first nominations for the awards season would seem to prove Singer's vision with "Bohemian Rhapsody" nominated for Best Film at the next Golden Globe in January. Returning to the public success think that it was the most watched musical biopic in history and in Italy has grossed more than Avengers Infinity War. It's amazing how you can approach the movie with so much skepticism resulting from the storm of "huge differences between reality and what is told in the film" and then come home finally read what these differences are and burst out laughing.
There are some differences, but of little importance and often more than differences are sides of Mercury's life that are better explored than others that are less than worse.
Mercury's sexuality is tackled delicately but relentlessly. Mary is as central in the film as she is in life. The timelines are sometimes slightly forced on the sole pretext of emphasizing the story, of giving more drama.
Freddy Mercury's life does not need to be embellished, exaggerated, overly fictionalized as he himself was the emblem of excess and unruliness but also of concreteness and perseverance.
A perseverance that led him to exaggerate, to try to rewrite the history of music. An arrogance that sometimes flowed into excesses of alcohol or drugs while others led him to compose long songs that mixed many genres. Maybe it's true that you can't change the world without feeling a bit like a demigod.
And Freddy Mercury was.
He changed the music, he changed the course of things.
Proudly and undisturbedly he made his way through prejudices, malicious tongues and a family that always supported him but that had a history and a background certainly of another account than the star that Rock would have known.
The Queen were also a real and great family and this is strongly reflected in the film. The fame overwhelmed them but even if with some difficulty they always managed to stay together and support each other.
Bohemian Rhapsody doesn't upset cinema, he doesn't rewrite cinematic canons but he excites and overwhelms as few films know how to do.
We tap our feet under the cinema chair to the sound of "We Will Rock You", we are moved every time Freddy plays the piano, we are moved when "Love of My Life" starts and of course when Bohemian Rhapsody restarts the opera.
An excellent film, then, where Rami Malek stands out, a casting choice that had surprised us but that turned out to be very good.The protagonist of Mr. Robot finally breaks down the walls of seriality and arrives at the cinema where you can bet he will become a star.
He wanted to live forever Freddie Mercury but unfortunately the evil of the 21st century took him away too leaving us alone with his immortal songs.
