I saw the Christian faith interacting with the characters in this film in that in the beginning Salieri had a deep faith and strong conviction that God had made a way for him to study music by removing his father from the picture. His father hated music and did not want him to study it, so when his father died suddenly, Salieri felt that this was God’s answer to his prayers. The relationships shown throughout this movie were affected by faith, Salieri’s faith in God, at the onset of the movie drove his great love for music and composing, but as time went on, he renounced his faith in God, because his of his great and bitter jealousy towards Mozart.
One of the filming techniques used in the movie was the use of light, and also the lack of light, the beginning part of the movie was very dark, and then it was interspersed with lightness as it cut to scenes of dancing at the party at the Archbishop Collerado’s palace. The stark difference between the dark, shadowy house where Salieri tried to commit suicide and the light and opulence of the palace is reflected throughout the movie, as scenes cut between the past and present.
I do believe that Shaffer lays logical groundwork for the development of Salieri’s hatred of Mozart because I think that Salieri did not start out hating him, he held a deep respect for him and the beauty of his music, he thought that Mozart’s music was divine and a God-given gift. However, as he came to know him and see the person that Mozart was, he could not understand how God would grant such a gift to someone like Mozart, I believe at one point he referred to Mozart as a spoiled dirty minded child.
Archbishop Collerado’s palace was beautifully appointed. Practically every surface was gilded, everything shone, and my impression though, was that that particular style does not really appeal to my senses. It’s too busy and ornate. I didn’t know where to look, there’s too much going on, and it gave the sense of being too crowded.
The...