Flawed, but who cares?

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 1999)

This powerful narrative of Mozart's adult career in Vienna - largely devoted to his operatic work, as befits a theatrical event - runs about 30 minutes longer than it might have, and has the power to put attentive viewers to sleep, or into a sort of hypnotic funk. Mozart's last days are stretched out inordinately. Nevertheless, this film has depth, humor, and one of the greatest soundtracks you'll ever hear. The historical facts are inseparable from the fantasy that forms the basis of the plot, so beware of citing Amadeus as an authority on the lives of Mozart & Salieri. Mozart was not so unworldly in real life, nor was Salieri so obsessed with his colleague, at least while both were alive. Mozart's music was very popular throughout Europe, though he didn't earn as much money from his compositions as he deserved. While Mozart didn't die entirely forsaken, as the movie implies, he was a victim of bad health exacerbated by overwork. Consider that modern "recording artists" like Michael Jackson, et. al. release a dozen new compositions every 4 or 5 years, while Mozart composed two full-length operas and the bulk of a Requiem mass, among other things - several hours of classic music - in a few months, while he was dying. Anyway, about the movie - see it and fall in love with Mozart's music!