Best picture winner of 1984 Oscars, Amadeus, which was released on 19th September 1984, directed by Milos Forman. This article, “Amadeus Review 2022”, had to be done even though the movie is not as relevant as it was once before. But, the sheer grandiosity of this film in terms of plot, direction, soundtrack, and the people it talks about is something that needs to be discussed again and again.
Starring Tom Hulce and F Murray Abraham, both of them were nominated for the best actor, with
F Murray Abraham actually going home with the Oscar.
Following a reverse chronological order of having a character tell another character, along with
the audience, the story cutting back and forth, and the man telling us the story is Antonio Salieri
played by F Murray Abraham, who’s been committed to a psychiatric hospital after attempting to
commit suicide. He tells a young priest the story of how he longed to be the world’s greatest
composer when he was just a boy and prayed to God that he would remain completely faithful if
his wish came true. Later he would become the court composer to emperor joseph ii in Vienna,
where he would meet the man, the myth, the legend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played by Tom
Hulce. However, Salieri is dumbfounded to understand that Mozart is immature and salacious.
How can God choose this pig to possess great talent? Salieri takes this as God mocking him for
his mediocrity and vows revenge on God by destroying Mozart.
Additionally, the movie is lengthy 2 hours and 50 minutes but the music and the aesthetics make it
worth the stretch.
More about Classical Music and Operas
One thing that makes this movie great is the music. It’s all Mozart soundtrack in a chronological
order going through Mozart’s life from beginning to end and using the music he composed at first
and then later in his life. The amount of influence that Amadeus holds will make anyone want to listen to Mozart’s great and transcendental music. Moreover, the staging of the opera seems
extraordinary with authentic lightning, mostly candlelit, one can even consider Amadeus as a
musical. Furthermore, you will get to see the recreation of the late 18th-century Viennese opera setting.
Amadeus does not just tell the story of Mozart, there are many musical biopics that just simply tell
the story of the artist, but Amadeus is about something bigger, it has a message to say. For me two main themes in Amadeus: Jealousy/envy and approval of success.
Envy
Salieri feels jealous of Mozart’s power, his influence over the music industry, and his raw talent.
The scene where they formally meet each other is one of the best scenes in the entire
movie. It is paced curiously, comedy is remarkable and every single character is deep, rich, and
well developed. In this scene, Salieri and Mozart come face to face and Mozart hears
Salieri’s work was “butchered” by the emperor. After one hearing Mozart knows how to play
Salieri’s entire version immediately makes it even better by adding more notes to it. So
right away Salieri feels embarrassed and ashamed of himself knowing that he’s in the presence of
greatness and nothing he can do can overpower him in terms of talent, in terms of raw musical
influence. Mozart is very unaware of how his talent affects the people around him, and just like in
real life the envious do take it personally.
Approval of success
Both Salieri and Mozart are seen in the movie seeking approval for their success. Even though
Salieri performs in front of a huge audience including the Emperor. Standing ovation, everyone is
clapping, and as the Emperor is congratulating him, saying that you are the brightest star in musical firmament. It’s not good enough for Salieri. He wants the approval of Mozart. When he asks Mozart, what do you think? He gets to hear “I never knew that the music like that was possible, one hears such sounds and what can one say but Salieri” and I believe this was a compliment, but not the words that Salieri wanted to hear.
Even though Mozart is a child prodigy, he is considered one of the most famous, influential, and
best musicians to ever walk the face of the Earth. Mozart could never get the approval of his father, thus never feeling completely satisfied or successful.
Moreover, what makes this movie remarkable and worth watching is that it does not rush through its’ scenes, it takes its time and you can feel whenever an important moment comes. Lastly, you know that the movie has done a good job at engaging you and getting you invested in the material when you want to learn more about it. Amadeus is one of those movies that you watch and immediately go to Google or YouTube to learn more about.
That’s all on Amadeus Review 2022. We cover a lot of content related to movies both new and classic ones. For more news and reviews, keep following Retrology.
