Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Bohemian Rhapsody is a musical/ drama film starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury (real name Farrokh Bulsara) and was released on October 23, 2018 and directed by Bryan King. The movie tells about Freddie’s story as the lead singer of the famous 1970’s British Rock band Queen, from the band’s formation and ending with their performance in Live Aid in 1985.
The film was perfectly named “Bohemian Rhapsody”, one of the band's successful songs, as it summarizes Freddie’s life. I don’t know the chronological events that led to the creation of the song and if all the facts are true, but in the movie Freddie wrote it during their sabbatical trip to a reclusive old farm (?) as they focus on their fourth album “A Night at the Opera”.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landside,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to
Me, to me
The high and the lows of fame and life itself that sometimes are so unreal, we wonder if it’s really happening to us. When you are already so low in life, you can’t get away and all you can do is watch the ground as you fall. Freddie feels exhilarated when he performs and is intoxicated by the love of his adoring fans,however, when he’s alone in his big mansion , with only his cats as his company, the insecurities, anxieties and loneliness sink in. So he turns to Paul Prenter, his manager turned lover, who became a bad influence on Freddie (in the movie), especially as he tries to learn and explore his sexuality. He felt annihilated from the band and even from Mary as they formed their own families outside of Queen. He also had yet to go back home and make up with his parents. When the pain was too much to bear, he became numb and everything seemed unimportant. Money really does not bring happiness.
Mamaaa,
Just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger,
Now he's dead
Mamaaa, life had just begun,
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, oooh,
Didn't mean to make you cry,
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters
I think the man he describes is himself. Everyone has a choice, and it was his when he decided to leave the band and be tempted with poor choices. I understand that it’s hard to resist the temptation that comes with fortune and success, and it’s harder when you surround yourself with fruit flies. Freddie knows that what he is doing will result in terrible consequences, but again, he can no longer escape the hole that he dug for himself.
Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all
The time
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go,
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, oooh
I don't want to die,
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.
We live and we die, the simple truth of life. However, there is a difference between dying old and ready (although to some degree, nobody IS really ready to die) and young and still have plenty to offer. Freddie had already accepted that he doesn’t have a lot of time left. He looked back to all those wasted time and the regrets. He told those who loved him to “carry on” with their lives once he is gone.
“If you bore me with your sympathy, that’s just a second wasted. Seconds that could be used for making music. Which all I want to do with the time I have left. I don’t have time to be their victim, their AIDS poster boy, their cautionary tale. No, I decide who I am. I’m going to be what I was born to be, a PERFORMER, who gives the people they want. Touch to the heavens. Freddie f*cking Mercury! "
Before ending this blog, I want to ask you my dear non-existent readers, have you heard about the curse of the 27 Club in Hollywood? Somehow after watching this movie I thought of this. If you didn’t know about the 27 Club, it’s “a list of of the artists and musicians who died at the far too young age of 27” starting with prominent death of Kurt Cobain in 1994. Although Freddie didn’t die at the age of 27, 45 years old is still too young, it’s about the circumstances leading to his death which made me think of the 27 Club.
Yes, Freddie died due to the complication of AIDS, but you can’t deny that stress, experimentation of drugs and other bad vices played a major role in the decline of his health, which I think most in the entertainment industry, at some point of their lives, had been exposed and eventually caused their demise.
Would your health, alienation, loneliness, depression, addiction, alcoholism, abuse , being misunderstood and ridiculed, be worth the fame and fortune? Who do you think is to be blamed? The person? The higher ups pulling the string? The industry itself?
It’s just sad to think that we lose our favorite artists, who are so talented and bring out such joy to the world, and yet behind closed doors they themselves are unhappy. To hide their loneliness they turn to drugs or alcohol or bad company. If nothing will change, for sure we will lose more.
We might have lost Freddie Mercury and those who belong to the 27 Club too soon, they are never forgotten through their art, music and passion. Their legacy will always remain to the people who have touched and changed their lives.
I never planned to make this blog post so bleak, but I just want to share my thoughts on what the movie made me realize.
To lighten the mood, here are other quotes from the movie that needed to be shared:
1. "I was born with additional incisors, more space in my mouth means more range."Freddie Mercury
2. "Children, please. We could all murder each other but then who would be left to record this album?” Freddie Mercury
3. "Roger, there’s only room in this band for 1 hysterical queen” Freddie Mercury
4."You will forever be known as the man who lost Queen" Freddie Mercury
5. "Freddie, you’re burning the candle at both ends" Mary Austin
6. "Yes, but the glow is so divine" (But it will burn so much faster though) Freddie Mercury
7. "You needed to tell me something but you couldn’t say it because you have no voice" (Ironic since he had such a powerful one on stage) Mary Austin
8. "Good thoughts, good words and good deeds." Freddie Mercury
Have you seen the movie? What's your favorite quote?
Commentaires