Common Sense Note
It's become a cliche to try and interest kids in classical music by comparing groundbreaking composers to modern rock stars. While the real Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was not the scruffy and impish "sk8er boi" type depicted here -- and there's no real evidence his jealous rival Salieri engaged in a conspiracy to murder him -- AMADEUS does rock, as a morality drama using these real-life figures and their music in an ornate, if lengthy, tale of envy, talent and wicked manipulation.
This is pretty rare for a drama in that it's told entirely from the point-of-view of the bad guy. Salieri makes a deliberate decision to deprive the world of Mozart and describes the grim outcome. His eloquent narrative makes a good opportunity for young viewers to confront issues of right and wrong. Do actual evildoers so thoroughly know that they're engaging in villainy, or do they justify and defend themselves? And what is the right way to confront obsessive jealousy over another person's luck or abilities?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
Historians say Richard III got a raw deal thanks to Shakespeare's dramatic use of the real-life monarch as a study in lust for power. In the same way some music scholars wince at the distorted images of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and lesser-known composer Antonio Salieri perpetuated by this multiple Oscar winner (and the Peter Shaffer play that inspired it). AMADEUS isn't out to be the educational experience than BEETHOVEN LIVES UPSTAIRS and other video/audio entries in the "Classical Kids" series, are, but rather an ornately-costumed morality drama about envy, talent and wicked manipulation. Shaffer took some remarkable real-life music giants and their situations and spins a symphony of dark emotions out of them.
The story is told in flashback. The aged Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) has just attempted suicide in an asylum and wants to confess his mortal sins to a tremulous young priest. The old madman seems both deeply regretful and positively boastful of his villainy. Three decades previously Salieri held an exalted position as the state composer in the Austrian Imperial palace of the 1700s. Into the royal court comes a potential rival in the form of music prodigy named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce).
Mozart's lively melodies, tossed off effortlessly by the 26-year-old, are far superior to Salieri's, but what really sends the older man seething is Mozart's mannerisms; he's a grinning goof with a high-pitched giggle and an adolescent's social skills, and he playfully mocks Salieri's stiff demeanor and formal, uninspired style of musicianship.
The resentful Salieri embarks on an elaborate campaign to destroy a man-child on whom he believes God has unfairly bestowed creative genius (Mozart's middle name literally meaning "beloved by God"). Mozart has plenty of weak points; he gambles away his money and carouses with Viennese night life, then works feverishly on operas and symphonies to support his small household. Salieri's insinuations keep Mozart from enjoying a comfortable salary from the Emperor, and he discovers another way to mess with Mozart's head through the composer's troubled relationship with a demanding, disapproving father. All the while Salieri pretends to be Mozart's truest friend, and he's tremendously moved by Mozart's artistic output, even as he ensures his ailing victim won't live past his early 30s.
One of the movie's strongest images is an ominous Dr. Doom-masked figure (an agent of Salieri's) pushing Mozart over the edge by hiring the struggling composer to write a funeral requiem. It really did happen, but this culprit was actually a notorious fraud who regularly commissioned pieces from down-on-their-luck composers, then passed the work off as his own. And, while Salieri's jealousy of Mozart is well-documented, there's no evidence he deliberately drove the upstart to an untimely grave.
Finally, while it's become a cliche to try and interest kids in classical music by comparing groundbreaking composers to modern rock stars, the real Mozart was not the scruffy and impish "sk8er boi" type depicted here, though it makes a good story, and Czech-born director Milos Foreman further draws us in by having his largely-American cast speak with their own voices in plain English rather than performing a scale of out-of-tune accents and dialects.
Although on the long side, the plot keeps you hooked, and one reason is that this is a rare drama told entirely from the point of view of the bad guy, Salieri, making a decision to punish the universe for Mozart possessing too much talent. He describes the grim consequences with such relish that it's hard to believe he's 100 percent sorry. In real life (as opposed to the heightened reality of stage and screen) do wrongdoers actually think out their evil so well, or do they justify and defend themselves? And what is the right way to confront obsessive envy about another person's luck or abilities? Good discussion points for young viewers of AMADEUS, but they should also know that the movie's version isn't quite the way it really happened.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentMozart enjoys romps with his wife. A naked backside. |
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ViolenceThe main character attempts suicide by slashing his wrists. |
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LanguageSome raunchy language. |
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Social BehaviorBetween the talented but immature Mozart and the cultured but poisonous Salieri, the most admirable person onscreen is Mozart's sensible wife, powerless to save him. |
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Commercialism |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSocial drinking |
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