For some fans, it does really matter
Re He Will Rock You, Nov. 2 Peter Howell reviews Bohemian Rhapsody and concludes that the film satisfies his film viewing experience. He asks the question at the outset “Is this the real life of Queen and Freddy Mercury?” and concludes with the statement, “Doesn’t really matter to me.”
I agree with him that for the majority of the public (and clearly for him) this statement stands true. It may very well be an entertaining film, but for those of us who saw this legend in person, who (like me) will never forget the moment when he reached out his hand to a teenage fan, perhaps that is just not enough and therefore it does matter to me.
Ever since the trailer came out, my 14-year-old daughter has asked me to see the film with her (knowing I still blast their music in our home), but I do not think that I can. This man lived in a time when admitting his homosexuality publicly would have consequences far beyond what my daughter could understand in today’s music industry, and he suffered from AIDS at a time when the shame of it would have been magni- fied by the perception of this illness at that time. There is a complexity to his character and indeed his life that every film review states is lacking in order to satisfy the general audience’s viewing experience.
I saw him in all his glory, his pulsating sexuality, his obvious love of performing and connecting with the audience. He was as powerful a performer as I have ever seen and to see him portrayed on screen in a manner that does not do his complex life justice is simply too difficult for some of us.
I try to explain to my daughter that there was a time when not every word spoken, not every image of these larger than life stars was played out endlessly for their fans by the simple click of a button on a computer. We had to imagine what they were like and when they finally appeared, for entertainers of his magnitude and unbelievable artistry, they were beyond what we could have imagined.
For this one fan, I would rather simply leave it at that. Sara Albin,