In the Name of God, Mozart, and the Holy Music ...

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2011)

"Amadeus", is a powerful portrayal of jealousy's poisoning effect in the heart of the envious. F. Murray Abraham turns his performance as Salieri, the unsung hero of the classical music Golden Age into the unforgettable fictional villain who killed Mozart, after he murdered his own soul, by making God his enemy. The title holds therefore a particularly ironic meaning if you think of Salieri's relationship with God. Amadeus is not just Mozart's middle name but means also "beloved by God", which obviously contradicts Salieri's personal sentiment before guiding all his vengeful actions  not against Mozart, but against God. Salieri is the personification of the inferiority complex which, when dangerously mixed with frustration, gives birth to evil. However, Salieri is probably one of the most sympathetic cinematic villains, because despite our reluctance to admit it, we can relate to his feelings. In this world, there are and have been more Salieris than Mozarts, this is God's implacable will, God who inspired Salieri a burning desire of revenge.
And Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, brilliantly portrayed by Tom Hulce is the tool of Salieri's revenge. Salieri is a man who loves music, whose personal dream is to become famous and forever celebrated. He made a pact with God. He secretly gave him all his chastity, his humility for an extreme devotion to music, to be blessed by a musical talent that'll make him remembered as one of the greats. It's not surprising that Salieri was so eager to sacrifice all life's pleasures to achieve his goal. Salieri dreams of being celebrated, loved, through ages, and never to sink into oblivion, he'll never witness his dreams being fulfilled, but that doesn't matter, it's all about a mystical devotion to God for a posthumous rewarding. Unfortunately, God made other plans and all the musical grace Salieri dreamed of, was dedicated to another soul.
And this is how Tom Hulce's interpretation of the titular role, as the second lead character of the movie plays a significant part. He's goofy, immature, has a unique giggle flirting with craziness, as to suggest the idea that genius is most often combined with insanity. After all, when Salieri tried to guess how this genius who wrote a concerto at 4, a symphony at 7, and an Opera at 12, would look like, he knew God wouldn't choose any human being to translate his divine beauty into music. And when he realizes this little, vulgar, constantly joking creature is the "chosen one", his deception is so big his grief directly targets God, as he understands his tragically ironic fate : enough musical ear to be touched by Mozart's divine light, but not enough talent to reach it. In the crucial scene where he composes the little March for Mozart, he thanks God for inspiring him, with eyes filled of gratitude. When after one hearing, Mozart plays the exact melody with some humiliating improvements, Salieri thanks God again with a more ironic tone in his voice. The second humiliation occurs when Salieri finds out how Mozart's talent allowed him to "possess" the Opera singer he's always jealously protected. Salieri has been stepped over two times with God as an accomplice. It became personal.
We all had this feeling whether we believe in God or not, that everything is playing against us, whatever we try. God, luck, hazard, everything we lack is owned by one undeserving ungrateful person. This is the cardinal sin of envy, instead of being happy for someone, we're consumed by a constant desire to see this person lose everything. This attitude is due to one personal grief Salieri has against God, if he had plans for Mozart, why did he give him the musical conscience to realize his weakness, and more than that, why did he fill his heart with so much passion, and desire to create and to be remembered.
The movie is told in flash-back, as a confession to a priest believing all men are created equal. "Are they?" replies a skeptical older Salieri. Salieri knows about music, more than maybe any other character in this film and this sure helps the narrative to transcend the whole Salieri-Mozart rivalry. Never had music been so beautifully described in a film, hearing Salieri talking about Mozart's music is like floating in an ocean of notes where symphonic waves graciously swing under an air of emotions. It's like Mozart's music piercing the deepest part of our soul. After all, this is a movie about music, and music is like the fourth character of Forman's "Amadeus". With God as the third lead character. It's like a Holy Trinity haunting this film, with God, Mozart and the Holy Music, and poor Salieri as a pathetic but powerful Devil drown in the bitter lake of jealousy. God, has never been so omnipresent in a film, you hear him through the glorious finale of "The Abduction of the Seraglio", to the enchantment of a "Magic Flute" and the impressive solemnity of the "Requiems", he never ceased to inhabit Mozart's music. But God was elsewhere, in Salieri's flaming eyes devoured by jealousy, where every drop of acid corroding Salieri's humanity was a tear to mourn his loss of faith.
God appears through the two characters. Salieri even acts like a Biblical character elaborating a complicated but devious plan to kill God's divine creature. But as a protagonist of the film, God puts a term to Salieri's malicious scheme by killing his divine protégé and letting Salieri alive witnessing his creations falling in the abyss of memories. This is how Salieri felt things, but this is Salieri's film, and as viewers, we can't help but feel for Salieri's weaknesses. Mozart was his idol, and only he knew he was the greatest composer who ever lived, and he couldn't even share a part of his divine light, this was his doom.