Amadeus Movie Review

Amadeus (1984)

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Written by: Peter Shaffer (original stage play, original screenplay), Zdenek Mahler (uncredited)
Directed by: Milos Forman
Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Jeffrey Jones
Rated: PG @ 2h40 (Director's Cut - R @ 3h01)
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Plot
The life, success, and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.

Verdict
The crux of the movie is jealousy. We've all seen someone else with such great talent, that doesn't have to work for it, that doesn't play by the rules because their talent is that impressive. Most of us are Salieri, we can only hope to get a glimpse of a Mozart. That's the triumph of this movie. We know the feeling, we've felt that jealousy. Salieri is tormented by jealousy and takes it out on Mozart but ends up destroying himself and helping to immortalize his rival composer.
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Review
This begins with Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) claiming he killed Mozart (Tom Hulce). Salieri has locked himself in his room, clearly disturbed. Then we jump back in time. Salieri was the most famous composer in Europe until Mozart appeared. Mozart nearly erased Salieri off the map, and now he lives in Mozart's shadow. Salieri was jealous of him even when Mozart was a child. Salieri claims he's not jealous of the talent, but that Mozart's father had the means to provides resources to study music.

F. Murray Abrham plays Salieri

Salieri wanted to see the prodigy, Mozart. He wondered if he could see the immense talent just by looking at him. To Salieri's chagrin, Mozart is crude, uncouth. Salieri was dedicated to the craft. Mozart has all the talent but is immature and silly. Yet the music comes so easily while Salierei had to work for it. The thesis of this movie is issued in the first twenty five minutes.The question that plagues Salieri, "Why would God choose an obscene child to be his instrument?" 

In their first encounter Mozart upstages Salieri, though that wasn't the intention. This is the start of the disdain. Salieri is mad at the slight, but he's also mad he has less talent. He attempts to undermine Mozart by tampering with his life and and stunting the work. The seriousness that Salieri approaches music is only rivaled by the silliness with which Mozart approaches music.

Tom Hulce plays Mozart

Mozart's laugh is so annoying, but it isn't based on history. This whole story is Salieri's recounting of the history and his views on Mozart. His dislike tints those memories so that Mozart may look even worse. The thing is, Salieri admires Mozart's talent, he despises the man. Salieri was the veteran that worked for it, Mozart is some punk kid that doesn't respect the game.

It's an ambitious movie with unparalleled production design, faithfully recreating the time period. Salieri is this devious agent working to undermine Mozart and appearing as a friend. Partying all night and writing all day takes a toll. Mozart's drunkenness and devotion to writing at all hours cost him his family. His friendship with Salieri cost him his life. Salieri claims to help, but all he does is sabotage. While Mozart lies sick in his bed barely able to hold a pencil, Salieri coerces him to keep working. 

Salieri rages the entire movie about Mozart's talent paired with such a crude demeanor. At first he was jealous of Mozart's upbringing, then he was jealous of how Mozart acts. His jealousy destroys him. He and we know that Mozart is an incredible talent, and despite what we've seen, by the end of the movie one of the greatest composers lies dead in a ditch.