Amadeus

Kyle Crockett
@ttekcorCelyK
Milos Formans 1985 classic, Amadeus, has and always will be my favorite film
of all time. Formans exquisite direction, combined with a fantastic story, majestic sets,
and beautiful costumes, produced one of the most unique film experiences of the 20th
Century. An adaptation from Peter Shaffers 1979 play, Formans Amadeus is relentlessly
loyal to its source material, which documents the life of the great musical genius
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the recollections of his archrival, Antonio Salieri.
Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham, starring respectively as Mozart and Salieri,
delivered two of the most inspired performances of their careers, and both men earned
Oscar nominations for their roles while Abraham took home the award.
The story is one of the most mythic of all music folklore. Mozarts deadly rivalry
with Antonio Salieri, a fellow composer in Vienna who suffered greatly from Mozarts
natural genius, leads to Salieri appearing as a masked man, commissioning Mozart to
write his own death mass. In truth, this is nothing more than myth; the two men were
actually friends and colleagues in Vienna, and this was not true of many of the Viennese
music elite in regard to Mozart. However, a deeply rooted, furious rivalry is far more
interesting. Formans film is not a historical document, but rather a fantastic celebration
of one mans eternal genius, as well as a probing, obsessive character study of two
wonderful characters.
Formans plan was daring to say the least. Okay, his plan was downright
ridiculous. Hello, Big Business, I want to make a 160-minute biopic about Mozart,
adapted from a play. It will be entirely in period, and well have to hire a world class
orchestra to perform classical music, which will feature very prevalently in the film.
Also, I want millions of dollars to make it in order to properly capture my vision. Turns
out, Orion Pictures was on board in a big way, to the tune of an $18 million budget.
Thats what makes Amadeus so extraordinary. Its director was so confident in his
goal and so meticulous in his planning that even the smallest detail was a beautiful one
that contributed equally to Formans masterpiece. The film is told through the
recollections of an elderly Salieri, who has recently attempted suicide over the guilt of
killing Mozart. As he confesses to a priest in an insane asylum (the scene of the priest
walking through the hallway is painfully morose), the audience discovers a delightfully
layered life, turned sour by jealousy and malice. Salieri was a man who devoted his entire
life to composing music; he worked hard at it, and he earned the renown and fame he
enjoyed in Vienna. And yet, here was Mozart, a bumbling buffoon with no regard for
authority, no respect for others, complete assurance of his own quality, and no older than
twenty years old, and his music was heaven. One of the greatest scenes in movie history,
Salieri recalls as he pours over the musical perfection of Mozarts compositions:
On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse
- bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an
oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it
into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This
was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had
me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.

This was the heart of Salieris envy. Mozarts gift was not acquired, it was
inherent. To Salieri, and to humanity, Mozarts music was nothing less than the
manifestation of beauty right before his eyes. It would have been impossible for Forman
to portray this without a heavy dependence upon some very unique source material.
Using his whopping budget, Forman landed the legendary Sir Neville Marriner and the
orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields to perform the films extensive
soundtrack of classical music by Mozart and Salieri. That was what made Amdaeus so
wonderful. At every turn, Mozarts irresistible melodies guide the audience through a
fantastic story of wonderful performances. The Academys performances are exquisite,
and the film is a nice introduction to the wonderful world of Mozart for newcomers if it
accomplishes nothing else.
Mozart is my very favorite composer, and I think his musical genius is matchless.
Ive played classical piano my whole life, and Mozarts music holds a very important
place in my heart. Milos Forman shared a similar adoration, and his film was one of the
most inspired love letters to date. Forman crafted a film that shed an intimate light on a
man whose character and genius will forever be a mystery, and revealed many of the
demons that haunted his thoughts. However, it also captured the mans true essence,
which is joy and beauty, but above all else, relentless optimism and pure imagination.