Bohemian Rhapsody was released in China last week to much fanfare among Chinese movie buffs. The Academy Award-winning biopic focuses on singer Freddie Mercury’s life and the highs and lows of British rock band Queen, finishing with an epic rendition of the band’s 1985 Live Aid Concert.
But as was expected, multiple scenes have been removed from the hit film, scenes that highlighted certain aspects of Mercury’s personal life. The Chinese mainland version of the hit film has a running time of 131 minutes, four minutes shorter than the original version.
One Weibo user posted her thoughts after catching the flick, writing “I cried twice. Although there wasn’t any sensational content, I couldn’t help but get choked up. It’s sad that it was so obviously edited.” Another netizen remarked, “Bohemian Rhapsody is really quite good, although if it wasn’t censored then it would be even better. It’s worth a watch, somewhat motivating.”
Image via @包子饭上强爸/Weibo
The movie currently has an 8.7 rating on Douban, a popular Chinese movie-rating platform. Popular Movies, a Chinese entertainment magazine, reported that 3,100 theaters are showing the film around the country.
Chinese movie bloggers were taken aback by the movie’s touching storyline, with one critic writing, “this was really filling for my heart, throughout the movie there were multiple times that I was truly moved. Especially during the Live Aid concert scene…”
Despite the fact that the Chinese version of the film is shorter than the original, Chinese moviegoers were still moved by the inspirational story of friendship and music. “After watching the movie I was crying up a storm even though I saw the ‘castrated’ version. [The film] took me back to a time, hearing Queen’s concert made me cherish listening to the songs at home when I was a kid,” one person posted after watching the film.
[Cover image via @拖_马/Weibo]
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