Review of Amadeus, directed by Miloš Forman

Something I do whenever I have a massive list of movies is that when there’s a film I really want to watch, it means I probably won’t actually watch it soon. It’s a bit of a procrastinator’s curse I have going on here—there are literally movies I’ve been excited for years, but still haven’t seen. A massive curse I have indeed.

I actually had not heard of Amadeus until I saw it available on Netflix one day. And it was something I got excited about, and then promptly added to my to-watch list with the thousands of other shows and movies I have collected on there. But what ended up being different about this movie is its availablility.

Not even a week later, the little red banner below it informed me it was leaving Netflix at the end of the month. Scandalized, I ignored the fact it had a three hour run time, and somehow got myself together in time to watch it before it was gone on Netflix and memory for a while.

Like I said, I don’t know how I did it, but I did. Let’s get into the review and summary before I start rambling too much. I tend to do that with blog posts!

The rival of Mozart seethes with jealousy as he sees Mozart rise to the top.

Our main character in this movie is a real-life person: Antonio Salieri. We meet him in the opening scenes as an older man, in 1823, and he has just tried to kill himself. He’s been sent off to the psychiatric hospital nearby, but when he was trying to do the deed, his servants hear him rambling about how he killed Mozart.

At the hospital, a priest decides to confront him and ask if he has any sins to confess. Salieri instead plays some of his music for the young priest, but then the priest says he doesn’t recognize it. Salieri then plays Mozart, which the guy recognizes immediately.

He then confesses that he was a huge Mozart fan when he was young, how he prayed to be faithful to god if he became famous, and how he became a court composer in Vienna. It’s seven years before Salieri comes face to face with Mozart, who is now his idol.

But when he meets the guy, he learns that Mozart is what he thinks is an idiot. He’s loud and brash, the exact opposite of what he expected of him. Salieri realizes God must be screwing with him by giving Mozart this talent, renounces his faith, and decides he needs to destroy Mozart’s career and fix the universe.

Mozart, an alcoholic, puts out bops that the world loves, but his life is slowly being destroyed by his addiction. Salieri hires a girl to become his maid, spying on him, which is how he finds out Mozart is adapting a forbidden play. The Emperor is informed and Mozart is summoned to court, and he weasels his way into consent for producing the opera adaptation further.

Mozart’s father then dies and he writes Don Giovanni, which makes Salieri try to convince Mozart his father has risen to request more music, specifically a requiem. He wants to kill Mozart and steal the piece as his own, and Mozart begins writing the piece. His wife and son leave him.

The Magic Flute is written and is successful, but Mozart collapses in the middle of a performance. Salieri convinces the sick man to go back to the requiem writing, but Mozart passes away shortly after his wife comes home and demands he leave.

Back in 1823, the priest decides not to absolve him. Salieri summarizes that he is the patron saint of being mediocre, and is then wheeled down the hall. He hears Mozart’s laughter as they go through the hall.

Overall Thoughts

This was a wild three hour ride. One of the highlights of the movie for me was the performance of Mozart. He plays unhinged and carefree a little too well, especially considering I came into this movie blind and had no idea what I was about to witness on the screen.

That said, this is a classic story of a rival. The main character is the guy who wants to off his rival and do something very unethical, which makes this into quite an entertaining movie if you ask me. I had no expectations coming into this, but was pleasantly surprised at what I just watched.

Go watch this one if you’re interested in the synopsis. It’s a long movie, with some dragging moments and pacing problems at some moments, but it’s worth it. Trust me.

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