31 October

'an rock iconoclast'. Says it all really, about critics. Can't even write. Imagine a film about Winston Churchill that focused on his sex life - people would (rightly) ask - why? I remember the 1980s, when AIDS was seen as a 'homo' disease, and straight people with AIDS were described as 'innocent' victims of the disease. I feel that prejudice is still there, but in more subtle ways. Critics almost universally want this film for example to explore Mercury's 'lifestyle', they see his death as almost defining him, and that death as caused by that lifestyle. (Ironically this is what they accuse the band of doing, as in this review.) The band are much smarter than that, they see the last years of his life and battle with AIDS as irrelevant to the story they want to tell here, about Freddie the man and artist.