One of my all-time favorite films

Rating: 10/10 (3 March 2000)

There are so many things to say about this film that I could never get them all in! Most of them have been said by other reviewers anyway.
I saw "Amadeus" in a theater when it first came out, applauded wildly when it won I don't know how many Academy Awards, and have enjoyed it any number of times on video since then. Peter Schaffer brilliantly adapted his play, which became even more dramatic and human onscreen. The story is moving and profound, and the performances wonderful. F. Murray Abraham was truly brilliant as the tormented mediocrity Salieri. So was Tom Hulce as the callow genius Mozart. Not too-often mentioned is Roy Dotrice as Papa Mozart; he was great, as was Jeffrey Jones in a slyly funny performance as the officious but empty-headed Emperor. I was delighted by the fact that the film avoided the stuffiness so often associated with period drama. I will even confess that I giggle just as insanely as Amadeus every time Salieri calls Mozart "The Creature"! The scene where Salieri takes dictation from Mozart and we see artistic creation happening must be one of the greatest ever put on screen. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to see this wonderful film on video.

OK, I do have some more serious stuff to say. As a budding screenwriter myself, I was impressed by the writer's attention to depth of character, and subtle, interlocking themes. As a student of cultural history, I was fascinated by how much history really came across onscreen. Not necessarily historical fact (I know that Salieri didn't murder Mozart, and most likely didn't try, and there were undoubtedly many other inaccuracies, due to the need for condensation). When I think history, I usually think of the history of ideas. And if you want to look at the historical development that took place from the idea of the artist dedicated to God, and the modern one of an artist as a tormented individual, striving for excellence on his own, you can see it in Salieri. And the film also made it clear how the coming revolutionary changes in 18th-19th Europe were to carry the artist from having to please a patron to having to make it in a democratic marketplace (well, until the founding of the NEA, anyway). Just compare this film to that odious monstrosity "Shakespeare in Love", which also, inconceivably, won a Best-Pictur Oscar! There, nothing goes beyond dull sitcom contrivance and cliches about the theater, and the conception of the characters is so thoroughly twentieth-century that no real historical ideas can possibly get though. Please, people, see "Amadeus" instead!