Dir: Milos Forman. Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Jeffery Jones.
Review: 25 years ago Amadeus was a hypnotic poster leering at me from behind glass in the cinema foyer. Even at the age of six, I was still aware that the film this poster represented was something lush and grand that would stand the test of time. As time went on, Amadeus reared its head on VHS, in many a film book and then on DVD in the early years of the new millennium. Somehow, in all that time, I'd never seen the film. Recently making it's debut on Blu Ray, as a 180 minute director's cut no less, I took the opportunity to embrace the master work that is Amadeus. There is so much to say about this film I can barely catch my breathe. From the very beginning we are consumed by the film's two greatest assets, the music of Mozart and the stunning locations (shot entirely in Prague). Quickly we are introduced to an aging man, Salieri, played by F. Murray Abraham under the best 'old' make-up ever seen. These scenes with the aged Salieri, recounting what lead to his 'murder' of Mozart, form the backbone of the story. Pretty much everything about Amadeus is faultless film making. It is nourishing to watch a film of such finery, maturity and quality.
While the film is really about Salieri's tragic jealously of Mozart, the story feels like a good introduction to the music and history surrounding one of the world greatest composers. It did take a little to get used to Tom Hulce as Mozart, once you accept that you are not actually meant to like him, especially since the point-of-view we are presented is from his greatest rival. Something I did find interesting was that I completely accepted the the myriad of accents in the cast, from American to English, despite the European period setting. For instance, a film like the recent Valkyrie, set in WWII Germany with American and English actors keeping their accents but playing historical German figures was very distracting, however it works in Amadeus, however some may disagree. On Blu ray, as to be expected, the quality was superb. I felt vindicated in waiting so long to see the film. As this was not the original cut, I was mostly unaware of the extra 20mins in this director's cut, though a couple of the opera scenes, beautiful as they were, did seem extraneous. Included on the Blu Ray (and on the DVD version too) is a decent doco about the making of the film. I would have liked to have seen more actual behind-the-scenes material layered over all the talking heads, but still the doco gives great insight into many aspects of making the film. Milso Forman comes across as very demanding "move those 3 tonne cannons, they're in my shot", but a film of this quality wouldn't get made without a strong force behind it.
Rating: 4.5/5.
