Amadeus as entertainment

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2007)

Admittingly this is a highly entertaining film. the historical accuracy is poor however. salieri as everyone should know by now was not Mozart's assassin. this was a tale that was bruited about for sometime without foundation. turning perhaps the greatest musical genius that has ever lived into a buffoon however is an even greater travesty. however once you have jumped this hurdle the movie offers much entertainment in its showing of scenes from some of his most famous operas. costumes and sets are superb of course and very life like. still it is many miles ahead of the pablum that was offered back in the 1940's in terms of bios of great composers. Mozart was a man of many moods. childlike in some ways. and naive of the ways of the world in others perhaps. scatological jokes were rampant however in the lives of the southern Germans (mozarts father) and Austrians (mozarts mother). you would have to read of the letters these two sent each other to know that bodily functions in the 18th century were much more out in the open than in todays much greater privacy. that would help explain Mozart's sometimes out of the norm tom foolery. it was part of the patois of the time. still you have occasion to hear some of the most beautiful music written and i suppose be grateful for that. when will we ever have a lifelike portrayal of the great composers? a brilliant spectacle non the less.