Jaws collectively dropped around the world when Rami Malek beat out Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born) for Best Actor at The Golden Globes for his performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Those jaws then hit the basement floor when the film won Best Motion Picture: Drama over ASIB, which only scored Best Original Song that evening for “Shallow”.
Bohemian Rhapsody has not experienced similar success at other awards shows. It won nothing at the Critics Choice Awards (wasn’t even up for Best Picture) and has only earned honors for Malek at minor ceremonies across the world. It is, however, up for Outstanding Performance by a Cast at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards this Sunday, January 27, and has a decent shot of earning a nomination for Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards when the nods are announced this Tuesday, January 22.
Question remains… does Bohemian Rhapsody really deserve to win Best Picture at any awards ceremony in a group of films that many (myself included) see as far superior?
I saw Bohemian Rhapsody several months ago when it was still on the big screen. Upon exiting the theater, I had my mind made up over one thing from the film: it was all about Rami. The movie primarily centered on his portrayal of Freddie, whereas his supporting cast were really just secondary players in a film about Queen’s very bumpy ride to their performance at Live Aid in 1985.
If anyone from this film deserves accolades it is Rami, who shines as Freddie from his humble beginnings as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport to full-blown rock star many years later.
There are still a ton of problems with the movie that make this writer in particular weary of gifting it the prize of Best Picture, let alone nominating it. The factual inaccuracies are abundant, much of which has to deal with how the film portrayed Freddie’s sexuality.
It was also a whopping 2 hours and 15 minutes long. A lot of the film could’ve been edited down as it felt like it dragged on for far too long. Recreating the entire Live Aid performance was great, and should be kept in, however there were parts of the film that were somewhat unnecessary in telling Freddie and Queen’s story for the uniformed and educated world to see.
Bohemian Rhapsody is not alone when it comes to a variety of people accusing films of lying throughout. Green Book, which is considered a favorite to win at The Oscars next month, has been condemned by the late Dr. Donald Shirley’s (Mahershala Ali played him) family who have spoken out against the movie. They have ridiculed the people behind Green Book for claiming that Dr. Donald was estranged from his family as well as the complicated friendship between him and Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen).
Inaccuracies aside, Bohemian Rhapsody shouldn’t win Best Picture just because Rami was the one to carry the film. I would be more inclined to root for a movie like A Star is Born and BlacKkKlansman as the subject matter in each felt much deeper and gave the opportunity for more than one person to shine throughout.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.