How could God be the antagonist if there is no God?

So, the rating is not too low by IMDB standards: an 8.3.
Amadeus won lots of Oscars, back before they became so political. The movie was not hugely financially successful, but this is because of people's knee-jerk reactions to period dramas. F Murray Abraham's performance probably gets analyzed in college level film and acting courses.
This is a collection film, one that you can watch over and over again and never get tired of because of the music and the performances.

A piece of trash like The dark knight being in the top 5 proves ratings are a joke on here controlled mostly by teens that I haven't watched many movies made before 2000.

because people are filthy plebs these days. They want to watch superhero crap. The want to watch beep feminist remakes. They don't know what quality is. When The Rock is the highest paid actor in the world, you know there's something wrong with cinema.
Amadeus is one of the greatest movies of all time. If it would've been released today, it would've flopped. Thank God for this movie and Milos Forman.
Top 250 Foreign Movies
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls076565151/

Spending so much time on his operas was a huge mistake. I know why they did it. A film is a visual experience & so is an opera, whereas Eine Kleine or a symphony is not.
But. That decision makes Amadeus the film that always makes me think:
Lord. That could have been genius, just like Wolfie was.

Because there is no accounting for taste.
Democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H.L. Mencken

This message has been deleted.

Amadeus is set in
Austria
, mostly in its capital Vienna. That is a completely different country and to mistake Austria for Germany is the biggest insult you can give to an austrian.

Interesting thoughts. I just watched the director's cut after having seen it in the top 250 and Roger Ebert's Great Movies list and frankly I feel a little underwhelmed. I can see why people think it's great but I didn't feel very impacted by it. I certainly have no quarrel with the historical inaccuracies.
Sometimes I think films that were a little bit before my time have a lesser effect on me. I think also it was strange watching a period drama set in Germany with a cast who largely had American accents, which also happens in Marie Antoinette, a movie I very much enjoyed.
90 is by no means low though.

Ratings are ratings they are not a measure of quality.

Should be in the top 50.
Especially with the amount of crap that's ranked higher! But Amadeus is lucky to be in the list at all, considering films about music and costume dramas ever ally don't rate that highly amongst young people.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

i love both films, whiplash is darker than amadeus and impressive than amadeus. whiplash made me think a lot even after 6 months i watched it.
amadeus is a well made film too, but isn't as overwhelmed as whiplash for me

I feel same as you especially you can see references of Mozart in Whiplash(2015) which is at #43 and actual movie on Mozart is at #70 .
No offence to Whiplash fans , i like Whiplash too but i feel Amadeus is Awesome and is an epic in its category .
Currently at 246/250 , IMDb top 250 !

actually the idea of a plot being a quarrel between two characters which unfolds by telling the story of a third character is not so extraordinary, and also not so "creative". TSR plot has a deeper purpose and a beautiful message.
A movie is not about what it's about, it's about how. Amadeus is about a man with strong moral convictions abandoning them once he sees a man who is above morality and seemingly blessed by God. It is about how Salieri is tortured by the normailty in himself that he sees in the reflection of Mozart's talent. Human beings often see themselves as inferior when compared to others, and this isn't so much a struggle waged against them as it is against ourselves. Amadeus is one of the greatest plays and films ever written.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

I enjoyed this movie so much that I gave it 9/10 which is an ultra high rating by my standards, only 30 movies or so got 9 from me, and only 8 movies got 10/10, from the many hundreds I've watched.
However, Shawshank redemption is on my 10/10 list. I will not bother you with why I love the movie and such But I will only address the three points you stated and try to explain why I think Amadeus is in its right place:
Plot: The strong point of TSR is probably the plot. Yet, the Amadeus plot is ingenious. The Protagonist is Salieri and the Antagonist is GOD. Yet, the story focuses on Mozart.
actually the idea of a plot being a quarrel between two characters which unfolds by telling the story of a third character is not so extraordinary, and also not so "creative". TSR plot has a deeper purpose and a beautiful message.
Awards: Amadeus won more Oscars than TSR. Most people agree that F. Murray Abraham's performance was one of the all-time best.
if you rate a movie depending on the opinion of the "Academy" then you just oblige your own opinion to theirs'.
Music: Maybe this is unfair to list Music as a category. How could any movie compare with Amadeus in that category. Most people rate Mozart as the greatest musical genius of all-time.
of course it is unfair, not just because it is Mozart vs some modern composers, but also because the Music in Amadeus wasn't written exclusively for the movie as is the case with TSR, also when you compare, a musical movie to another movie that doesn't even focus on music at all to find out which has better music, what do you expect the result to be?
Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying!

Back to the future is as close to perfection as one can get? You're kidding right?

Amadeus is my #1 favorite film, but I can't give it a 10 because Elizabeth Berridge's Constanze is awful. The woman cannot act. She's the only flaw in the movie.
For my money, 'Back to the Future' is as close to perfection as you can get. Perfect script, perfect casting, not a false note or moment in the entire movie. The only reason it isn't my favorite movie of all time is that 'Amadeus' has a more powerful presence. I saw it in its original run in a classic movie theater (red velvet, gold trim), a 70mm print and Dolby sound, and it blew me away. During the 'amen' in the final 'Lacramosa' you could feel the entire theater rumble. It was awesome!

It's very hard to get on the top 250. I don't consider it low at all.

"I don't expect everyone to agree with my no. 1 ranking"
I DO! Not only is it my all time favorite film as a composer and musician, but it is also the film that I consider to be the greatest and most well-crafted as a cinephile!
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!

when i give these piece of farty garbage 3/10, it's only because mozart's piano concertos are the only european classical music that i listen to regularly. i think the version i watched was the director's cut, i'm sure the theatrical cut isn't as bad. yes abrahams performance was good, but they couldn't find more disgusting unbearable creatures to play mozart and his wife. i'm not sure you really watched this movie, because mozart and salieri were almost lovers.
edit, actually i watched the theatrical version, it seems the director's cut is more boring and disgusting.
i mostly will not be able to answer your reply, since marissa mayer hacked my email, no notification

@Robbmonster.
No "thumbs up" button so I have to respond to tell you: Good post.

When I give my rating here in IMDB, I consider 5 points:
1 - My own personal enjoyment.
2 - The quality of the story and characters.
3 - The quality of the artistry (acting, photography, music, etc).
4 - Technical quality of the film.
5 - How well the film achieves its intention.
For me, Amadeus is a film that stands up with the best in all of these categories, and gets a solid 9 from me. The main reason it doesn't get 10 is because it's been so long since I saw the shorter (superior) version, as the longer version is the only one available on DVD and Blu-Ray as far as I know.
I cared much less for Shawshank Redemption. The character of Andy struck me as a fantastical, unrealistic angel of a man, and that ending on the beach was more sickly sweet than anything the 'overly sentimental' Spielberg has ever pulled.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds

I'd add Lawrence of Arabia to your list.

Freudz.
Thanks for your support. You've whetted my appetite on Goodfellas. I thought I'll try to get a copy. Then I check my folder called "Top250." To my surprise, I already have it but I've never watched it. Of course, I'll remedy that problem soon.