A Triumph of Film-making

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2006)

Although this is possibly one of the best films ever made, I feel that its title is inappropriate. Perhaps instead of Amadeus, it should be called Salieri, because that Patron Saint of Mediocrities is really the star of the show. There is no bad acting in Amadeus, but F. Murray Abraham truly steals the show. From his first anguished cry of "Mozart, I killed you!" to his final absolution of the mediocrities of the world, Abraham gives one of the best performances not only of his career, but in all American film.
Abraham captures with consummate grace and skill the final musings of a tortured soul, having wasted away, chewing on his own guilt for thirty years, bitter at what Mozart was and he could never be, but in his lonely sadness, alone of his contemporaries realizing Mozart's genius.
The story is told by Salieri as an old man, after he is confined to an institution because of a suicide attempt. He tells his story to a priest, following his interactions with Mozart, from the first time he saw him as a young man, to his scheming against him in Vienna, to Mozart's final resting place in a pauper's grave.
Although the portrayal of Mozart's life is interesting, especially through Salieri's viewpoint, the true poignancy of the film comes from Salieri's feelings, and their exploration of what it is to be a mediocrity -- always second to somebody better than you. And in the final moments of the movie, as the viewer returns to Saleri's present, having just witnessed Mozart's burial, Salieri addresses the teary eyed priest who was taking his confession. He says "I will speak for you. I will speak for all mediocrities. I am the patron saint of mediocrities." As he is wheeled through the hallways of the asylum, he spreads his hands in benediction and crys to the madmen "You are absolved! You are absolved! You are absolved! You are absolved!" Truly, they are, and perhaps, so, even, is Salieri.