OWEN BENJAMIN: INSIGHTFUL COMMENTARY ON THE MOVIE, AMADEUS

Owen's Amadeus [1984] commentary starts at 34:20.   

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— Owen Benjamin 🐻 (@OwenBenjamin) September 9, 2024

40:20, Salieri:  Do you know who I am? 

40:30, Priest:  That makes no difference.  All men are equal in God's eyes.

41:55, Benjamin.  Salieri plays his songs for the priest, but the priest doesn't recognize any of them because Salieri plays for the elite, not for working people.  

Benjamin concedes that he believes that everybody is equal in God's eyes, it's just that everybody has a different role.  Interesting.  

42:20, Benjamin.  Salieri is wildly more successful than Mozart.  Mozart died broke in a pauper's grave.  Mozart wasn't even allowed to do operas.  He was literally banned from theaters.  People don't like to admit stuff like this historically, but it's true.  While Salieri was selling out "stadiums," Salieri remembers his praise and the worship bestowed upon by elite audiences, but no one really cared about his work.   

43:35, Salieri.  I was the most famous composer in Europe.  I wrote 40 operas alone.  Salieri plays Mozart's melody, and the priest recognizes it immediately. 

44:35, Benjamin.  Mozart wrote operas about normal people, "Marriage of Figaro," [premiered, 1786] and "The Barber of Seville."  He wrote operas about the servants, not about the Greek Gods and nobility.