From Rags To Amadeus Riches: Mozart (spoilers)
November is both the anniversary of Amadeus being released nation-wide in 1984 and the anniversary of Milos Forman's previous film, Ragtime, being given a limited release before being released nation-wide on Christmas Day 1981. I thought I'd make a few posts comparing Amadeus characters to Ragtime characters.
I definitely noticed a connection between Mozart and Ragtime's Coalhouse Walker Jr.: They're both talent musicians who's lives were tragically short because they could not keep their personal lives in order.
When Coalhouse is going from bureaucracy to bureaucracy in a futile attempt to get justice for his damaged car, it brought back memories of how Mozart practically had to jump through hoops to try and get the job teaching the emperor's niece.
Coalhouse is constantly being scolded into forgetting the damaged car and go on with his life but Coalhouse refuses to listen. Mozart gets a lot of flack for his attitudes and behavior but he also can't be budged.
Both of there deaths are bittersweet in a way. Mozart dies young but he will live on forever in his music. Coalhouse realizes eventually that his death is pretty much inevitable so he does the noble thing and orders his gang members to escape and orders the "Father" character to exit the library before him since the police would not have hesitated to accidentally shoot "Father" while trying to get to Coalhouse. The gang members escaping is one of the few bright spots at the end of Ragtime.
It's a shame Mozart and Coalhouse saw there lives end so tragically since they both had clear music talent. A scene in Ragtime shows Coalhouse being accused of not being able to read sheet music and when he plays to prove otherwise, his music is so good it causes Mary Steenburgen to come into the room to hear the music. This is obviously very similar to the Amadeus scene where Mozart claims to have memorized Saleri's march on one hearing and when Mozart plays, we some priests walking towards the room to hear such fine music.