I feel fortunate to have parents who exposed me to a wide range of music, art and literature from a very early age. So along with Beethoven, Bach and Frederick Forsyth and Steven Spielberg, the sounds of Queen thundered through our house for many years. This was in their heyday of album releases, so there was a periodic ritual of getting a new album, Mum firing up the turntable, and we'd listen to what new wonders Freddie, Brian, Roger and John had woven. We watched Queen's set on Live Aid. We were thrilled by the soundtracks for Flash Gordon (1980) and Highlander (1986). And we were deeply saddened by Freddie's passing in 1991.
Fast forward a few decades, and Bohemian Rhapsody is released. Wow. Just wow. There is so much feeling and visual glory in this movie. Yes, there were quite a few fudgings and inaccuracies in the history, but I understand the desire for dramatic effect. The whole picture that was painted is lush, energetic, and filled with joy. Being able to see the Live Aid gig reproduced so well, from the viewpoint of the people who were there, is just amazing. If you watch the movie, compare the Live Aid scenes to the original footage, and you'll see how closely they followed it, right down to the number and type of cups on the piano Freddie played.
As a nice bit of promotion, the documentary Freddie Mercury The Great Pretender was shown on television on the weekend on the film's release, which provided a lot of context for the historical aspects of the film, and Freddie's quirks. I never knew about his love of cats, and how he would call his cat sitters when he was on tour and ask to talk to his cats!
If you like Queen, if you like a good story, if you enjoy music, watch this movie.