A brilliant film for people with an attention span.

Rating: Null/10 (28 November 2001)

What can I say that hasn't been said? Amadeus is a truly wonderful film, and as it is told from the point of view of an insane, elderly Salieri, I forgive it's historical inaccuracy. What I fail to understand is how the majority of people who watch this film and don't like it can say it's "stupid how Mozart dies". They seem to be under the impression that he died of working hard and stress, or just being driven mad. PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE! There are SO MANY scenes of Mozart drinking. There are scenes of him SNEAKING OUT to go drinking. There are scenes of his wife finding bottles littered around the house. Keep in mind that alcohol brewed in Vienna during Mozart's time was pretty potent stuff. History says Mozart died of an "unknown feverish illness", but it seems clear to me that the filmmaker was trying desperately to make the viewer see that his vision of Mozart drank himself to death BECAUSE of the stress. Observe Mozart's final hours. His skin, his eyes, his fever. How can the public at large, no matter HOW old you are, not recognize that this movie suggests Mozart dying of cirrhosis of the liver? Therein lies the brilliance of the movie. They never SAY this is the cause. Could it have been poison? Salieri doesn't remember it that way, but then, he could be omitting that detail. More likely it was Mozart's own drinking problem that killed him in this movie. Like so many geniuses, Mozart was his own killer. Legendary talent and fame that burns brightly always accompanies a life that winks out of existence quickly. The message of this movie would then seem to be that Salieri WAS blessed by God, and that Mozart was the cursed one. Salieri was blessed with long life, while Mozart died poor and young. The irony is that Salieri, being a true artist, recognizes that his long life of mediocrity will not- CAN not- measure up to Mozart's legend, despite his short life. Salieri would trade that long life for a short life that guaranteed him people knew his music forever... And in the end, he is forgotten like the rest of us. Is there a villain in this movie? No. There are only two victims, and a great amount of wonderful music and dialogue.