From director Phil Grabsky we learn that he wanted to find out how much truth there was to the movie Amadeus. I hope he hadn't. Amadeus may be fiction, but it was a passionate, captivating and an emotionally deep film about Mozart. This highly praised documentary however is a soulless, trivial and dull recounting of Mozarts life through quotes of his letters, interlaced with comments of experts. It has no dramatic exposition, no original approach and terrible shots of modern day Salzburg, Vienna and random people on streets. There are way too many directors, opera singers and historians, who all have there say, not always too interesting and sometimes contradicting each other, who are so closely framed you instinctively withdraw from your screen. Apart from knowing the chronological order of Mozart's works, I have no better view on the man itself: it's a long enumeration of dates and facts. The only interesting footage is when musicians explain the emotional impact of Mozart's music. After which some German prof is allowed to share his platitudes again.
When Mozart dies we see a string of shots of snow on trees, that's the level of creativity Grabsky is able to produce. Ouch.