What's your favorite rap beef? Biggie and Tupac? Kendrick Lamar and Drake? What about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri? Feuds have always been an essential element to the music industry - it's just human nature. However, Amadeus may represent the only one to end in a Best Picture win. The film depicts a passionate rivalry between the legendary Mozart and his contemporary composer, the talented but far less successful Salieri. The reality of this rivalry is disputed, and likely traceable to a widely-debunked rumor that Salieri had poisoned and killed the younger composer out of extreme jealousy. While director Milos Forman's version of the story (based on an 1830 Pushkin play) may be partly fictionalized, it is affecting, beautiful, and tragic - much like Mozart's music - which, fittingly, provides much of the backbone of the film. The score, set design, costumes, lighting - every visual element of this film approaches a sublime (and historically accurate) beauty that can only invoke Stanley Kubrick's own keen eye. However, far and away the largest reason this movie remains one of the best music biopics ever created, is the unmatched ability of both leads to sell the humanity of their characters. And I do mean unmatched - despite being released 40 years ago, it remains the most recent film to collect multiple Academy Award nominations for the category of Best Actor, with F. Murray Abraham's embittered Salieri beating out Tom Hulce's immature but affable Mozart for the award. Given that Amadeus follows the creation of many classic operas, it's not surprising that it plays out like one - full of haunting images and motifs; Amadeus can feel rather Shakespearean in all the best ways, particularly as it follows Mozart's tumultuous descent into debilitating alcoholism following the death of his father. Amadeus is an incredibly beautiful, powerful watch that you won't soon forget - from the dark drama of the fugues to the unbridled joy of Wolfie's signature laugh, this film will stay with you for longer than you may expect.