Outstanding production although historically inaccurate

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2000)

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. The movie is visually stunning and the music is great of course. F. Murray Abraham's performance was certainly of Oscar Caliber. I have given the move a rating of "9". I would have given this movie a "10" except for the inaccuracies and, in particular, the injustice to the character of Salieri. Salieri was not the court composer when Mozart arrived in Vienna; Gluck held that post. Salieri was the conductor of the opera. When Gluck died Mozart replaced him (Gluck) as court composer. Salieri's chief "fault" was his own self-deprecation. He often bemoaned his own limitations as a composer. It seems that if you claim to being a failure, people are willing to believe it to be a fact. Western Society likes "winners". In fact Salieri was a better composer than he thought himself, if not as great as Mozart, and was an outstanding musical teacher who's pupils included Beethoven, Liszt and Schubert.