A Great Film About Mozart

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2012)

Amadeus is a period drama film directed by Milo Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is a variation of Alexandr Pushkin's play Mozart i Salieri, in which the composer Antonio Salieri recognizes the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but thwarts him out of envy. The story is set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century.
Amadeus is an expansion of a Viennese "urban legend" concerning the death of 18th century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri recalls the events of three decades earlier, when the young Mozart first gained favor in the court of Austrian emperor Joseph II. Salieri was incensed that God would bless so vulgar and obnoxious a young snipe as Mozart with divine genius. Why was Salieri -- so disciplined, so devoted to his art, and so willing to toady to his superiors -- not touched by God? Unable to match Mozart's talent, Salieri uses his influence in court to sabotage the young upstart's career. Disguising himself as a mysterious benefactor, Salieri commissions the backbreaking Requiem, which eventually costs Mozart his health, wealth, and life. Among the film's many pearls of dialogue, the best line goes to the emperor, who rejects a Mozart composition on the grounds that it has "too many notes."
It is arguably the best motion picture ever made about the process of creation and the creator.On a production level and as an evocation of a time and place, Amadeus is loaded with pleasures for Reminds us that movies can be lyrical as well as vulgar, ambitious as well as playful, brilliant as well as down and dirty. As Mozart, Tom Hulce, though extremely American in looks and voice, gets better and better as the drama progresses.Overall,it was a lavish, entertaining, powerful film about the life and influence, both positive and negative, of one of Western culture's great artists.