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This 1984 film adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s 1979 stage play won no less than eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, Director, and Screenplay adaptation. In this instance, even proud independent film enthusiasts who are generally distrustful of the Oscars calling the shots tend to whole-heartedly agree; Amadeus is a masterpiece of filmmaking. The story is loosely constructed around the historical figure of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (played brilliantly by Tom Hulce) but the particulars of the story make no attempt to reflect an accurate account of the composer’s life. Rather, the real energy of the story centers around the life, ambitions, and regrets of rival composer Antonio Salieri (impressively played by F. Murray Abraham) who finds himself consumed with jealousy for Mozart’s effortless musical gift and ultimately allows his growing obsession to pollute his perspective of himself and drive him to self destruction. The story unfolds like a gentle bloom; slowly evolving from an inconspicuous bud into a fully developed flower with powerful impact.

The story is utterly human and at the same time spiritually inspired. The friction between passion-driven desire and elevated, honor-bound aspirations forms the essence of Salieri’s quest. The tragedy of how personal perspective can be so corrupted by embracing jealousy’s temptation is so poignant that at times it’s almost painful to watch. Salieri’s life accomplishments and impressive list of musical skills are invisible to his own eyes; his self esteem can only be measured by comparing himself to his imagined scope of Mozart’s genius. Salieri speaks to the untenable “mediocrity” of his own ability, when even his deft ability to comprehend the sublime mechanics of Mozart’s compositions would be out of reach of all but the most talented of musical minds. Salieri’s incessant battle with “God’s will” demonstrates how the human ego manages sees truth the way that conforms to its own point of view regardless of the facts.

I first experienced Amadeus as an adolescent, and so it forms the base of important films that influenced me during my formative teen years which led me in my college days to eagerly procure the outrageously priced box set which I watched repeatedly on my 16x9 Proscan monitor in glorious widescreen. Of course the flipper-disc anamorphic DVD edition soon replaced the disc-swapping marathon of the laserdisc set, I couldn’t wait to obtain the remastered Director’s Cut DVD edition when it came out just a few years ago to replace its badly-compressed predecessor. However, having grown so familiar with the film that I knew and loved, I found it too difficult and jarring to try to watch the “Director’s Cut” on this new DVD, which felt something like a favorite love song that had been remixed into a dance-tune that left me frustrated and unsatisfied; I hadn’t watched any version of Amadeus from that point on until receiving this Blu-ray Disc.

Now having distanced myself from the film long enough for my memory of the original cut to begin to blur, I find I’m able to relax and enjoy the new Director’s Cut for the expanded, better developed story that it is. Why am I dragging you through my personal Amadeus therapy session? Because I’ve heard lots of other fans of the film come away with the same reaction that I originally had to the new Director’s Cut who vowed they’d never watch it and stick with their original theatrical cut instead. My hope is that those of you who are feeling frustrated that Warner saw fit only to provide the one Director’s Cut on this Blu-ray Disc edition rather than provide both to give fans the option (as New Line properly did with Dark City, as an example) will give the film a chance with its 20 added minutes of scenes. The new inclusions range from quick 10 second sound-bytes to lengthy, impressively central scenes that depict key elements of the story which paint a much richer tapestry of character development and motivation.

Don’t get me wrong: Warner should have provided both versions for a title like this with such a strong history and fan base. But the transgression of omitting the theatrical-version is not worth avoiding the disc for anyone who truly loves the film. If you still find yourself frustrated without the theatrical cut, I encourage you to rent the disc and then write Warner Brothers and inform them of your displeasure. Such actions do not fall on deaf ears.

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