Thank you, Rami Malek, for doing justice to and celebrating the shining jewel that was Freddie Mercury

Rating: 10/10 (29 November 2019)

Every now and then a person comes along who seems indisputably destined from birth to fulfill a certain role in life or to fill the niche that they eventually end up occupying. Freddie Mercury was a perfect exemplification of this phenomenon. Try and think for a moment of anyone else who has ever come close to his matchless blend of flamboyance; charisma; infectious and compelling stage presence and ability to command and hold an audience of hundreds of thousands of fans completely entranced and in the palm of his hand; and what can be considered an almost divinely conferred talent, not only coming to life in his remarkably beautiful voice, songwriting and instrumention, but also in his uncanny ability to create new avenues of poetic expression and eclectic musical mixes and arrangements which rendered his bandmates and other artists perplexed and oblivious, but which will go down in history as truly classical. To attempt to deliver a performance which is a portrayal measuring the depiction of such a person with 100% accuracy is not only undeniably daunting, but in fact, impossible. In this fascinating and enthralling biopic, however, the actor chosen for this task, Rami Malek, comes as close as one possibly can in delivering a performance which celebrates and pays tribute to Freddie with what I would characterize with a score of 99%. I deduct 1% for the "certain something" that people with Mercury's talent possess and which just could never be replicated. The entire film will keep you glued to the screen without interruption, from the beginnings of his career to his historical performance at Live Aid in 1985. Rami does a remarkable job in what is a true embodiment of the person that Freddie Mercury was, not only of his talents but also of his character and persona - someone who possessed a great generosity, a huge heart and tenderness, but who was also a man who had many demons, inner conflicts and was, above all, profoundly lonely. He tried so hard to use every means he could muster to mask his disappointments and emptiness by presenting a facade of confidence, dominance and bravado, but irony being what it is, the adoration of millions of fans and the rewards of untold fame and monetary fortune just do not comfort you after the party is over, the fans, hangers-on, and sycophants go home and when you are once again inevitably alone. Rami Malek seems to have an almost mystical ability to convey the darkest empty spaces which Freddie dealt with daily. His Academy Award was well deserved, as he is one of a handful of performers who can transform a portrayal into an embodiment, and which, in my opinion, defines what true acting ability is supposed to be. The crowning glory of this flawless film is his turn as Freddie at Live Aid, where he delivers a re-enactment of what has been unanimously voted the "greatest rock performance in history" - 20 minutes into which Freddie packs more than any other performer could in 2 hours, and which, I believe, you would have to search far and wide to find an actor who could even approach the job that Rami Malek does in paying tribute to it.