Recently I watch Bohemian Rhapsody. Imdb.com describes the movie as follows:
The story of the legendary rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).
The movie is rated PG-13. Frankly, I would want a child to be a least 16 or 17 before they saw it–it shows some details about Freddie Mercury’s life that are somewhat unseemly.
The music was fantastic, but more importantly, there were some very positive life lessons illustrated in the movie. First of all, creativity without self-control or self-discipline often leads to self-destruction. Second of all, creative people working together, with all of their friction, create a better product than one creative person working alone. Thirdly, forgiveness leads to better things than holding grudges.
There was one other interesting aspect of the film. One executive producer in the film refused to allow “Bohemian Rhapsody” to be released as a single because it was too long and too unique. The members of the group felt strongly enough about the song being released as a single that they left that producer. The dynamic is simple–the producer was making a decision on basic knowledge and facts–radio stations were not in the habit of playing records six minutes long. He didn’t understand the group’s focus on creating new things rather than repeating past successes. He made a fact-based decision when dealing with people who were more creative than fact-based.
How much of the film is actually factual I do not know. However, it paints a sympathetic picture of a very creative, complex man with many flaws and many positive traits. It is a movie worth seeing (and the music was fantastic!).
