Classic Movie Review: "Amadeus" (1984)

I am one of those people that has to admit how many times I have seen this film. It may not be in my top 10, probably not even in my top 20, but that does not mean it is no good. In fact, this film is probably one of the best of its decade. Amadeus (1984) tells the story (whether the story is true or not, who knows?) of the possible assassination of Mozart. With Miloš Forman of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as the director and F.Murray Abraham leading the film as the jealous Salieri, this film really could not go wrong anywhere.

The narrative style of this film is brilliant. It starts somewhere at the end and then goes back and forth in episodic flashbacks. The beginning of the film focuses on the suicide attempt by Salieri which sees him locked up in an institution for the mentally ill. When he begins to speak, he starts by going into each of these episodic flashbacks but not before he shows the man he's speaking to what he could not achieve through one of Mozart's most well-known pieces.

The differences between Mozart and Salieri are extreme. On one hand, Salieri is a serious well-trained man with a hard past and mannerisms of a gentleman. On the other hand, Mozart is an annoying child-like man with lighter speech and the mannerisms that would more commonly be associated with Charlie Sheen. The way the director achieves this on screen is brilliant especially as hilarious as it is when they are together in a room. Most of the time, you find yourself rooting for Mozart because of the fact Salieri is so stiff-lipped, not because Mozart himself is actually a better person. He's just funnier.

I remember first watching this film when I was a teenager and I was surprised at how over-the-top Mozart was being portrayed and I thought 'you know, that cannot possibly be what Mozart was like...' and then I found out that it might not all be too accurate but that is what Mozart was possibly like. I enjoyed the portrayal of Mozart because it does not depict him as simply some musical prodigy that we should all revere, but he was also a human being with a complex layering. First of all, he was a fun-loving young man, next he was a musical prodigy, then he was a person looking for work and trying to make the best of a bad situation, then he was a drinker, then he was dark and anxious and by the end, he trusts the one person he really should not have trusted - the one man who destroyed him. Salieri. The portrayal of Mozart was absolutely brilliant and, I find it ironic that though the movie is being narrated and is supposed to be around Salieri, he still cannot stop talking about Mozart and so the film becomes all about Mozart.

Over the years as I have watched this film again and again, I can honestly say that one of my favourite scenes is the funeral. Just a look at how small and unimportant Mozart's funeral was really shocks the audience because of how larger-than-life the man is to us today. Mozart, if you did not know, was buried in a pauper's grave and did not really have much of a funeral. However, in the film, they play Mozart's Lacrimosa over it and everything just fits together perfectly. That scene was so dark in comparison to the first time we see Mozart in the film that you really do believe for those moments that Salieri was the worst person in the world. It also reflects the themes and atmosphere portrayed in Mozart's Don Giovanni - in the film you get a taster for this opera, but I really suggest you watch the actual opera itself because it really brings this funeral scene out.

At the end of the day, I have to say that if the chance arises to watch this film again then I definitely will. I wish they would play it at the Odeon on the anniversary of the movie's release or something. I think next year it will be 40 years since the film's release and so I sit here with my fingers crossed that I may be able to watch it on the big screen. It is a truly wonderful film.