The tragedy of Mozart's life

Rating: 10/10 (28 July 2006)

In today's pop-fixated culture, it's easy to forget that the techniques of harmony, musicianship, and so on were invented hundreds of years ago by the classical musicians. Unfortunately, I would say by now that classical music has all but become the real alternative music these days given its minority popularity. As such, I was quite pleased to see a film about Mozart and his rivals in the world of music.
It goes without saying that the film has a great soundtrack featuring many of Mozart's best loved works. It also manages to be dramatic without being too heavy. Salieri's angst balances with Mozart's silliness to keep things both entertaining, even humorous, while dealing with a dark plot of unfulfilled dreams, growing madness, and tragedy. All in all, a great film and a reminder of a time before Elvis was king.