Amazon.com Essentials:
The satirical sensibilities of writer Peter Shaffer and
director Milos Forman (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) were
ideally matched in this Oscar-winning movie adaptation of Shaffer's
hit play about the rivalry between two composers in the court of
Austrian Emperor Joseph II--official royal composer Antonio Salieri
(F. Murray Abraham), and the younger but superior prodigy Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). The conceit is absolutely delicious:
Salieri secretly loathes Mozart's crude and bratty personality, but is
astounded by the beauty of his music. That's the heart of Salieri's
torment--although he's in a unique position to recognize and cultivate
both Mozart's talent and career, he's also consumed with envy and
insecurity in the face of such genius. That such magnificent music
should come from such a vulgar little creature strikes Salieri as one
of God's cruelest jokes, and it drives him insane. Amadeus
creates peculiar and delightful contrasts between the impeccably
re-created details of its lavish period setting and the jarring (but
humorously refreshing and unstuffy) modern tone of its dialogue and
performances--all of which serve to remind us that these were people
before they became enshrined in historical and artistic
legend. Jeffrey Jones, best-known as Ferris Bueller's principal, is
particularly wonderful as the bumbling emperor (with the voice of a
modern midlevel businessman). The film's eight Oscars include
statuettes for Best Director Forman, Best Actor Abraham (Hulce was
also nominated), Best Screenplay, and Best Picture. --Jim
Emerson
