Top 100 Movies of All Time Amadeus. Wherein we at THiNC. are doing our homework, eating our peas, and attempting to learn from Hollywood’s own list of the 100 best movies of all time. If I were to make a list of the one hundred best movies of all time, almost none of these movies would be on this list. But, maybe this one might be… Amadeus.
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Top 100 Movies of All Time Amadeus Overview
When I first watched this movie, I was just getting into classical music as a kid. Operas, symphonies, and the like. I was beginning to fall in love with Mozart, and he had already bubbled up as my own personal favorite classical musician. Better yet, I’d already decided (and it still holds to this day) that my favorite symphonies was Mozart’s Requiem. So, if you know anything about this particular movie, you know just how central this is to the movie Amadeus. But this movie hit at just the right moment to cement Mozart in my mind as the greatest classical composer of all time. (My wife thinks I’m an idiot and believes it’s obviously Beethoven, but whatever.) So to replay this movie again? I’m excited about this one.
Okay, so, the movie opens in 1823, with Antonio Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham, who won an Academy Award for the role) being carted off to a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. The framework of the story is a number of confessions between Salieri and a priest, Father Vogler, and Salieri’s flashbacks to his career as a court composer. Salieri commits himself to God, and in return expects God to fulfill his desire to become a vaunted and world class composer. The crux of Salieri’s dilemma is that he worked so diligently to learn and grow as a musician, but Mozart? He was an ass, and did zero work, but divine music just came to him. Not only was Mozart talented, but he was also shocked to see Mozart flaunt his talent in his face, and actually, more importantly, in the face of God.
Let’s be clear, Salieri is all of us. The mediocre that strive, scratch, and claw our way to approach this level of transcendence in all that we do.
As the story follows Salieri, as he follows Mozart, we watch as Mozart’s health and marriage, and reputation melt. And yet, Mozart’s music is still glorious. Mozart begins work on The Marriage of Figaro… but the Emperor has ruled it is forbidden. So Salieri tries to take Mozart out at the knees, but Mozart appeals the Emperor’s edict. AND frustratingly, Mozart manages to convince the Emperor to change his mind. Then, when Salieri realizes that Don Giovanni is an ode to Mozart’s recently deceased father, Salieri comes up with a scheme to make Mozart believe that his dead father has come to life to requisition a requiem. At which point, we realize that Salieri will kill Mozart and claim the requiem as his own. Right? Salieri is definitely up to no good here.
But Mozart instead, begins working on The Magic Flute to his wife’s chagrin – and it is an enormous success. I MEAN COME ON… watch this magic (pardon the pun). Literally brings tears to my eyes every time… totally unbidden. Just blows me away.
Apparently cranking out Operas isn’t simple, because the guy is horrifically overworked. And while directing the Opera, Mozart collapses. And Salieri, the real evil in this particular story, takes Mozart home and convinces him to continue pushing on the Requiem. Even going so far as to dictate to Salieri… which, has to be one of the greatest scenes in all of movie-dom. The baffled dictator, and the dying genius, such a glorious juxtaposition here. But just as Mozart is at his last, Constanze comes back home, and locks away the Requiem away from Salieri, and Mozart dies of exhaustion and alcoholism. Mozart’s body is hauled out of the city, and tossed into a pauper’s grave in the middle of a rain storm.
Cutting back to Salieri and the Priest, we see that Volger is beyond shocked at this man’s actions, and all for the hope of a little bit of pride. And as the movie ends, Salieri promises to pray for Volger and all the rest of the world’s mediocre individuals… as he is, apparently, the patron saint of all the mediocrity in the world. As we cut to black, we hear Mozart’s laughter ring through the air.
Thoughts on Amadeus
It’s an age old question, isn’t it? Why does God give some gifts to some, and not to others? Why would horrible people be given so much, while the diligent are left in neglect? I’ll ask a better one, do gifted people become horrible because of their gifts? And do good people become good because of their lack? It’s seen even more clearly with beauty… isn’t it? The beautiful people in high school… GENERALLY SPEAKING, were horrible.
But Amadeus spins the perceived evil on its head and makes us ask, what really is the true evil here? Mozart was a drunk, a buffoon, and terrible to pretty much everyone he was in contact with. But when compared to the malicious and premeditated work of Salieri to subvert Mozart at every turn, it really makes you wonder. Salieri was raw evil. He was manipulative. He was murderous in his jealousy. He was the truly awful person in this movie. Which is really interesting to just ponder… am I jealous of others? Do I manipulate and cunningly try to become great by pulling others down? Hrmmm.
But besides the interesting moral philosophizing, the music here was glorious. The cinematography, the costumes, the staging of the operas, everything here was just an amazing experience. Definitely, Amadeus deserves to be in the pantheon of the top 100 movies of all time. At least I get this one! hahah.
Want to see the other movies I’ve already covered in the top 100 list… check them out right here.
Edited by: CY