Review of Amadeus (1984) by Tiberio S — 30 Jul 2016

Wildly entertaining. This quickly became one of my all-time favorite movies. I won't try to explain the poetry, because I can't. But I feel the character Salieri so deep in my bones it's frightening.

Envy, jealousy, desperation to become what one simply is not, beheld by the genius that is Mozart. And how the film is made to speak to a conventional audience, not mired in cliche accents or period dialogue; it speaks to us today.

I am not a lover of period dramas, though most anyone knows my deepest regards for Barry Lyndon. This is just as incredible an experience. There's this grand piece Salieri puts together with lots of characters, a real epic, and the followup reaction of Mozart, who condescendingly admires the work.

But we don't even need to hear Mozart say this, because hearing the flatness behind the grandiosity of the work intercut with the serious passion of Salieri and Mozart's conniving mockery watching from above tells us the whole story.

We get this sense of embarassment that one would feel going to a Michael Bay explosion fest - I got nothing, so make it bigger. Salieri's music is not bad at all, it's good, but simple and acting like other pieces.

Mozart's are trying to break free of the mold, applying contexts relevant to his circumstances; it empowers the meaning of his music while offering a justification for Salieri's humiliation and envy.

Salieri is more powerful politically, but not half the genius. And it's worsened by the feeling that Salieri had to fight his family to become what he wanted, praying for his father's death, while Mozart built it in his blood, growing up with it and being nurtured by his family.

Salieri realizes Mozart was destined for legacy, and he couldn't stand not feeling part of it. What a fabulous historical fiction.