What are some other films about real people/events that are purely fictional that could rival this?
The only one I can think of is Midnight In Paris but honestly, it's not even close to being as good as Amadeus.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
A Knight's Tale
Kingdom of Heaven
Saving Private Ryan
Gladiator
The Patriot
I would consider other good historical movies like Amistad and Glory and Braveheart more like non-fiction.
I've got Once Upon A time In Hollywood on my list of films to see next. I'm just waiting for it to become available On Demand. It looks pretty good..
I thought AKT was just okay. I really didn't care for the use of modern music set in a medieval film. And I didn't care for Shannyn Sossamon. thought she was just okay in this movie. Might have been miscast in my opinion.
KoH and SPR are both pretty good movies.
TP was decent too. but very similar to Braveheart.
I loved the soundtrack in A knights tale having said that I have no idea why that music was played in a medieval film
shareNo, because the accuracy is debated. For an historical film to get top marks it should have undisputed accuracy.
That said, I think this was a highly entertaining film. It was the one that inspired my classical music journey which is something every human being with a soul should take.
If you like this you will probably love Immortal Beloved which was loosely based on Beethoven's life. The music is equally brilliant and brilliantly used.
Gary Oldman plays Beethoven before he became a superstar but you could see the talent blooming already.
Newsong, thanks for the tip on Immortal Beloved. It's On Demand right now. I am going to check this out over the weekend and post a short review in here after I watch it. Might not be until Monday though....
shareI would love to hear what you think. I think you'll really enjoy it. I hope you have a good sound system. There is a certain segment of the movie, I don't want to overhype it here, but my goodness, what a scene. Let's see if you pick it out when you come back.
ENJOY! :)
I don't have a sound system setup right now. But the speakers on my TV are pretty good. Don't tell me but the scene/segment you're talking about must involve Beethoven's 5th. lol...
shareNope. :)
shareSaw it, it's a good movie. Ode To Joy has to be the scene you're talking about. lol
That is a beautiful piece of film-making right there. I can see why a good sound system would make it even better.
However, here at moviechat and IMDB they call IB a bio/drama/music and that's...
fair enough, but I would throw in mystery too. Although, once it's revealed who the IB is, I was a little disappointed in that aspect of the movie as to why it was her? lol
Still good though, and very intriguing, I would say Amadeus is the better film but IB reminds me of Amadeus in many ways. I would be tempted to say Amadeus was an inspiration for this movie.
Overall, I'd give it about a 6.4 out of 10. It drags on for a while and we don't really get into the music of the man because it's so focused on the mystery lady instead but this is what draws the viewer in and gives us a nice backdrop for Beethoven's music. Overall, good movie, I liked it...
Yes, the scene of the ninth where he turns around being completely deaf....
I'll leave it at that for the spoiler
I didn't want to hype the movie too much because then it almost invariably leads to let down. It's also been a few years since I've seen it. I want to view it again to see if it holds up to more viewings. Sometimes they don't.
The real reason to watch these is if you are a fan of classical and/or are going through a classical phase like I was. It just adds color as you see these great songs put in to the context of their time.
They were talking about making a biopic of Vivaldi at the time I was viewing this but I don't think it ever got off the ground. That would be another with an incredible soundtrack.
Hence why its called fictional - because it is not trying to be accurate.
shareThen they should have just run around in clown suits since accuracy doesn't matter. It looked to me that they were trying to be accurate in some areas and pushing opinion in others.
The problem with that is that you get to the end of the movie and your perception of what was accurate has now been shaped and distorted. Hollywood does this all the time with many historical stories and they shouldn't. Many people like to watch historical stories for a look at what things were truly like. I know many will say that would be too boring but that is the challenge for a good director.
Why? Would clown suits make for a better story? If so, then yes, they should. Not that the costumes of the times were far from clown suits.
Yes, the people who want to do that already have a whole genre dedicated to themselves - documentary.
The problem with Hollywood is if they think clown suits would make a better story then yes, they would go with them.
Documentaries are usually dry and are not in the genre of historical entertainment for a reason. Why lie to people though? I think most people want to see what things were like. I know much of history is dry but outright falsehoods are lazy.
Documentaries are dry because they are true to the facts. Truth does not make for good entertainment.
shareThis is one of my all-time favorite films. The costuming and settings look like something straight out of an 18th century painting. There is so much attention to detail that it's a shame they weren't more careful about the historical inaccuracies.
I get past this by reminding myself that the story is being told from Salieri's point of view. An aging Salieri whose memories are fading and whose mind is becoming addled. It is believed he suffered from dementia in real life before he died, so this adds some feasibility to the plot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Salieri#Life_after_opera_(1804%E2%80%931825)
I can't recommend any other movies off the top of my head at the moment. I do also like Titanic as suggested by MovieChatUser497 above. Once again, it's because of all the attention to detail.
jonathan,
If you like the costumes and that 18th century painting feel, check out a movie called Girl With A Pearl Earring.
It's based on the model used in the Vermeer painting of the same name. Although, I do think it's more 17th century, the use of color in this movie is amazing.
Every scene in this movie looks like it could have been a Vermeer painting. But yeah, overall, it's not as good as Amadeus, but it is a decent film. The real highlight of the movie is definitely the costumes and cinematography.
Here's the link.... https://moviechat.org/tt0335119/Girl-with-a-Pearl-Earring
Thank you for the suggestion. I have heard of that film but have never seen it.
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I like the idea that the film is a distorted recollection from Salieri while addled with dementia
Personally, knowing that this film was adapted from a stage play, I never took it to be remotely "historical" or even attempting to be.
I think of the film's Salieri as a fiction, like Che Guevara in "Evita," a "voice of the chorus" or narrator. In real life, Guevara never met Eva Peron, and Salieri was actually a friend to Mozart who helped his work get produced posthumously to help support his family.
But I do like the notion of Salieri being an unreliable narrator. Maybe the film COULD be seen as historical through that filter -- a senile Salieri remembering things all wrong as he nears the end of his life, knowing that Mozart will live on as he fades into obscurity.
It sorta works!
Gotta agree with ExTechOp here. The movie is practically built over a collection of letters sent by Salieri. It’s an historical POV, but is also dramatized by a Hollywood machine.
That being said, it’s one of my favorite movies ever made. I absolutely love the care that they took with telling this story. Salieri’s jealousy and soul eating respect for Mozart is so fantastically told in this movie.
IMO, it’s the absolute best movie that could have been done with the historical materials available between these two people.
There's not much that's technically "historical" about Amadeus other than the names. Circumstances are either highly "interpreted" or outright fabricated.
I suspect if the movie was historically accurate, it wouldn't be so damned entertaining.
Which is why I said "fiction" in the title.
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Yeah... but adding "historical kind" of muddles it, particularly when the screenplay is based so heavily on actual historical figures.
But if you mean "period" fiction, then I can't think of a better one right now that I'd rather watch.
Historical fiction is a literary genre that has fictional stories set up in real historical settings. Dostoyevskis War and Peace are a very popular example of this. There no reason why movies cannot also be classified as historical fiction.
shareThat's such a broad category... I wouldn't even know how to approach ranking them...
But that's what message board bravado is for!
First of all: I never would have thought of Midnight in Paris as a contender even. I think of it as a "magic real" film or a comedy. But if it's in the running, well...it's pretty high up there.
For my personal votes for "Best Historical Fiction Film Ever Made":
1. Casablanca - this is one of the best films of all time. It doesn't feature real people (to my knowledge), but the history is palpable here.
2. Seven Samurai - another contender for "best movie ever" is...well, anything by Kurosawa it seems. But Seven Samurai is as good as any. Again: no historical figures here, though.
3. Silence - Scorsese's best picture - for me, anyway - and an underrated piece of art.
If you need real historical figures involved, Amadeus would be up there for sure. That said, I also really like Ed Wood (also underrated), Gladiator, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Hacksaw Ridge.
But my top 2 here might have to be:
1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. Zulu
Amadeus would definitely make my top 10, probably top 5, though.
I'm not as big a fan of Gone with the Wind as some people (though it is spectacular and I get why they love it). Spielberg's oft-cited efforts are, to me, a little flawed. Schindler's List is brilliant, but has a flaw I can't stop seeing ever since Terry Gilliam (in an interview) pointed out that it was about success and the Holocaust was failure. Saving Private Ryan, had is started on the beachhead and ended before flashing-forward again (to the cemetery) I'd rate it MUCH higher. As it stands, the bookending comes off as overly patriotic. Just tell the war story. Don't slap on some commercials for flags at the start and end.
Good reply, Ace.
The only Kurosawa film I've seen so far is Ran and I thought it was good but a little over the top.
And still haven't seen Casablanca but its on my list...
Silence looks pretty good. You chose two films set in Japan. Do you like the shogun era of Japan?
Zulu is another one I'd like to see. But how accurate is Lawrence Of A? Might be too accurate to be considered pure fiction.
Thanks, Stickman!
I have seen very few Kurosawas, but I should watch more. They're all great. Seven Samurai is brilliant.
Definitely check out Casablanca if you can. That's a phenomenal film.
I do enjoy that era, although I really basically just love any films that are brilliant. Silence is vastly underrated and I think a very challenging film about faith, spirituality, philosophy, religion, etc. It's a rare gem where I truly feel like it tackled spiritual issues honestly and without trying to say, "Believe in God!" or "Your religion is stupid!" It's extremely well-done.
I'm not sure of the accuracy of many of these films. Zulu is, I think, pretty accurate with some things and liberal with others. I don't know about Lawrence of Arabia at all, really.
Zulu is wonderful insofar as it doesn't demonize the "other". It's a British film, but it's not turning the Zulus into monsters or anything; it's got respect for everybody. It has some dated effects (obviously rubber bayonets, for instance), but if (like me) you can sort of approach a film "in its own era", so to speak, you'll really dig it.
If you liked Amadeus you HAVE to watch Valmont (1989), which is also my Milos Forman (same director).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098575/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_6
I've seen it, pretty good movie.
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