Rock me Amadeus...

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2008)

For all intents and purposes, I have split this review/comment into two portions, namely the subjective and the objective.
Let's begin with the subjective: I personally don't like musicals on the Silver Screen; they just don't work for me (I said the same thing about CHICAGO). And while I agree that this is not a musical per se, it does feature a lot of overly dramatic operatic pieces/plays, which brings me to my second point: I don't like opera. Maybe it's just me, but I just can't get into it no matter how hard I try. Thirdly, I'm not necessarily fond of period pieces, and have only liked a handful of movies of this type (most notably BARRY LYNDON and ATONEMENT). As such, I really did not appreciate this movie as much as I probably should have.
Now onto the objective: The acting by F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce is simply extraordinary. Abraham (as Salieri) presents a character who is conflicted and troubled upon meeting Mozart, not necessarily because he hates him, but because he believes that God is teasing or mocking him by placing such musical genius into the hands of a disrespectful, idle, and roguish youth, while seemingly giving the pious Salieri nothing more than mediocrity. As such, Salieri is decidedly presented as the 'reluctant' villain whose guilt and jealousy and sense of divine betrayal constantly eat away at his conscience. The conflict faced by Abraham's character is evident in every scene in which he appears. Tom Hulce presents the prodigy Mozart as somewhat of a modern day 'rock star', living a reckless and carefree existence. It is a bit unfortunate that he had to contend with Abraham for the Best Actor nod, since it was a battle that he was never going to win.
Biopics about artists are generally long and boring and do not succeed in connecting with the audience. This is where AMADEUS proves itself to be exceptional; it is not really a biopic and is in fact more of a story than a documentary, as Milos Forman and Frank Shaffer took some liberties with the storyline, resulting in a quite compelling story.
Then there's the Music. I mentioned earlier that I am not a fan of musicals, but that doesn't mean that I am opposed to Music in Motion Pictures. On the contrary. I was quite curious to see how Mozart's music would fit into this film, and the end result was simply breathtaking. The musical pieces are not inserted at random in the film as I feared; instead each featured piece succeeds brilliantly in capturing and enhancing the overall mood evoked, and it is evident that much forethought went into the music selection.
A final note about the title 'AMADEUS': this film could have been called 'MOZART' or 'WOLFGANG' or anything else that would indicate that the film is indeed about the legendary composer (as not many people knew that Amadeus was his middle name). Any student of language will know that 'Amadeus' loosely translates to 'Loved by God', and it is this concept that drives the film, as Salieri believes that God has forsaken him by blessing Mozart with the musical talents which Salieri believes he himself should have had. It is the resulting bitterness and jealousy that propel the story.
This is a great movie overall, and a wonderful character study. It deserved the Best Picture and Best Director (a second for Forman after ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST) Oscars in a relatively weak field that year (1984). Nonetheless, it is just not my type of movie and I find it difficult to give this movie more that 8/10 since it would seem that I am bending to the will of other critics, influenced by the 'popular' vote rather than my own. I give this film 3.5 stars (out of 4) since I believe that as an Oscar winner it should be seen and studied. This film will garner a spot on my 'Honourable Mentions' list due to the superb acting, direction, storyline, and music, rather than to the overdone and seemingly never-ending operatic segments. Highly recommended.