Review of Amadeus

Eight stars. Because, damn, that was bleak! My guess is that the actual Mozart wasn't quite the idiot-savante that Tom Hulce played him as. But I've known enough really brilliant people to know that the mix of arrogance and naivete he portrayed was likely reality. Still, the film belongs to Murray Abraham. He won that Oscar fair and square. The only real competition was Albert Finney (I haven't seen Starman). Salieri had to be believable not only as a villain, but as a man of talent, and of deep love for music. Otherwise all his Machiavellian manipulations would just seem pointless. I don't know how much the film makes up its story, but the fundamental lesson is that real genius cannot be stamped out. Mozart died while still a young man, and is the only one of the characters than any one remembers now. I don't know if Salieri was really a villain, or just a by-stander whos light was drowned out by the genius he found near him. But I do know that Abraham played a part for the ages. The only other cast members that stood out to me were Elizabeth Berridge, who began as window-dressing, but got stronger and stronger as the film progressed, and Jeffrey Jones (one of the only other actors I recognized).

Every now and again, I realize that there are still some stone classics that I haven't gotten around to watching yet. This was one, and was three hours very well spent! 14 May 2024.