Good,but not great

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2004)

I just watched the directors cut version last night. I have never seen the original version. The acting is great by all concerned,and I'm really surprised to see that none of them went on to "big" film starring roles after this movie.
I won't get into the historical accuracy discussion,but it looks like in the end he was buried in a mass grave,and I have a hard time believing that. How could a man as famous as Mozart have been buried in a mass grave? Does anybody know if this is true?
To me,the movie was enjoyable even when it wasn't all that interesting because of the quality of the acting from all involved (not just the stars),and because of the scenery. I am not very knowledgeable about classic music,and think most of what I hear on classical radio stations is about as exciting as watching grass grow. Yeah,I like certain Mozart,Beethoven,Bach,and especially violin pieces out of eastern Europe that I have heard played,but most of what they wrote is like Scotch whiskey or rap "music",a acquired taste.
This is related to the only parts of the movie I hated,and that was the opera scenes. If your idea of good music is some woman singer shrieking at a pitch that makes dogs ears bleed,you may love it. If you don't like opera,this will definitely take away from your movie enjoyment. In fact,I suspect the reason this average movie got such high ratings is because of all the opera fans taking it as their own. The rest of the music is tolerable,and my biggest complaint about it is the rare times something popular is being played they only play a few notes of it. It is this high-pitched shrieking in the opera scenes that causes me to give this movie a 5.