by David C. Terr

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Title: Amadeus

Director: Milos Forman

Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge

Release Date: Sept. 19, 1984

Running Time: 160 min

Genres: Drama, Music

Commentary
Amadeus is the tragic story of the life and death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce), the famous German composer, and how he dies at the hands of Antoni Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) according to the film. Amadeus began as a play in 1979 by Peter Shaffer and was later adapted for film. I saw both the play and the film and enjoyed them both. Although the movie is nearly three hours long, it moves very fast. While watching it, I was drawn very much into the minds of the main characters, Salieri in particular, who narrates the story and from whose point of view it is told.

Plot Summary
The movie begins with Salieri in an insane asylum in the 1820s. There he confesses to the killing of Mozart and tells the story of Mozart's life from his point of view.

Mozart grew up in Vienna and became the court composer to the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Salieri meets him one day at the royal court. Salieri had been a great fan of his music, but he is gravely disappointed by his personality, which is very much that of a perverted child. Having been brought up as a deeply religious Catholic, Salieri cannot understand how God could endow Mozart with such incredible musical talent and at the same time have given him such a boorish personality. At the same time, Salieri, though very famous for his musical compositions, feels he is far inferior to Mozart. Salieri vows to get even with God and do everything in his power to destroy Mozart.

Salieri employs a woman to spy on Mozart. He also masquerades as his friend but uses his influence to discredit him as much as he can. Salieri's final blow to Mozart is to disguise himself as the ghost of his recently-deceased father and tell him to compose his own death requiem. Mozart obliges and dies before he can finish.

In the years following his death, Mozart's music becomes more and more famous and Salieri sinks into obscurity as he finally goes insane.

Cultural Significance
Amadeus won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1984. The classical music from Amadeus, mainly composed by Mozart, was featured on a soundtrack, which became quite popular. Before seeing Amadeus, I hadn't been a big fan of classical music, but both the play and the movie increased my appreciation of classical music quite a bit, of Mozart in particular.

Movie Clips

Here's a trailer.