Evita (1996)

Madonna gives it her all, and the tunes are definitely memorable and widely well-covered. The direction is interesting. Were some of those scenes taken from real life documentary news-films ? The fairly low site rating puzzles me a little, but for some reason I don't think it deserves 8 stars. Can't really say why. Perhaps it was the vacuity of the plot, politics-wise. There was no real explanation of Evita's political significance. She just went around singing and being charismatic and adored. I couldn't quite see what she'd done to deserve all this adoration. Then she died.This film reminds me of another, plot and politics-wise. This was a film modelled on Huey Long, which I found equally puzzling. The Huey character went around waving his arms about, instead of singing, but the politics were just as vague as in Evita. Sean Penn was the actor, who got murdered in the story, and I suppose it is merely a coincidence that he was the sometime husband of Madonna.

Opening with her premature death, this musical about Argentinean first lady Eva Péron flashes back in time to show her rise to fame before becoming embroiled in politics when her husband assumed control of the country. The standout aspects here are the music and memorable songs, however, they are a mixed blessing. There is a hardly any spoken dialogue with the characters singing over 90% of the time, which renders it hard to get under anyone's skin. By the end, one gets the sense that Eva was loved by many and hated by some, but the reasons why are never clear with the music/songs always at the forefront; it is not clear either how Eva ticked as an individual and how her mind worked, and Madonna is hardly spectacular, vocals aside. Antonio Bandares gets the film's best moments as a narrator of sorts, slyly winking at the camera and exuding lots of charisma, but he is not on screen anywhere near often enough to carry the project. Those with some knowledge of the actual Eva Péron and Argentina's political history may well get more out of the film. For those uneducated in such areas though, this is not a great place to start. Accurate sets and costumes ensure that the film looks good and with all that amazing music it sounds good too, but if as important as the film makes out her life to be, a non- musical narrative may have done better justice to the legacy of Eva Péron.

A musical based on the true story of Eva "Evita" Duarte de Peron, the actress who married Juan Peron and became the first lady of Argentina.Considering I generally dislike musicals on sight, the fact that I liked this says a lot. Plot is fairly linear and conventional, but the music is great, plus Alan Parker's direction gives the movie a certain vibrance without being too mainstream. The cinematography, especially, and costumes round off the movie.Performances are spot-on. Madonna, as a singer who can act (to a degree), was an obvious choice for the lead role and puts in a great performance. Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas give good support.

Having not watched this movie in its entirety since its premiere in 1996 (and the first film version of a Broadway musical in almost a decade), I was curious to see how it held up. I have seen two stage versions of this since the release of the movie-one a national tour in the mid millennium, and the other a short-lived Broadway revival which suffered from a less than magnetic leading lady. More attention was paid to Ricky Martin in that revival than the Argentine singer and actress who headed the show. The same, I must say, is true with the movie, as Antonio Banderas stands out far more than Madonna who looks the part and sings it magnificently, but lacks the acting chops to make it the role she thought would carry her into film stardom.Not pro or con Madonna, I felt she did deserve her Golden Globe for the part, Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, but when you consider the dramatic chops of the actresses who did get Oscar nominations, Madonna just didn't hold up in comparison. Then, when paired opposite Banderas as "Che" (who in my opinion seems to be playing some sort of spiritual on- looker, most likely the angel of death) or Jonathan Pryce (so subtle, yet powerful as Juan Peron), the difficulty of her role makes it more clear. She certainly is glamorous in this part, but like other movie stars who took over for the Broadway original, the passion seems to be missing, especially when you consider the power you feel in the original British and Broadway casts with Elaine Page and Patti LuPone."Evita" came out as a movie at an ironic time, being the last year in the life of England's Princess Diana, and the mass hysteria over her death was comparable to what happened with Eva Duarte Peron, the poor illegitimate country girl who became a mediocre radio and film actress, and pretty much slept her way from being a model to actress to the first lady of Argentina who took the people into her heart as much as they took her into theirs. Sinner or saint?, Che asks the audience to decide for themselves, and the answer is a combination of both. Had the film had some dialog for Madonna to recite rather than all music, she might have had the chance to work on her skills and come off as more than a music video star. She is certainly more than tolerable in the part, and deserves kudos for giving it her best shot.Banderas acts with his singing, showing both despair, cynicism and respect for the first lady of Argentina who tried to conquer the hearts of the Europeans as well as her own people, obviously made the attempt to do some good, but showing hints that more was in it for her than for the people she was promoting her foundations for. Madonna does show the regret as her body falls apart and she becomes a bit closer to God in knowing that she is facing her final days. There is also the fact that she took away the song of Peron's mistress ("Another Suitcase in Another Hall") which does seem appropriate for Eva at the time, but gave that character on stage some meaning rather than just showing Eva's viperous social climbing ambitions. The character deserved at least to reprise it more than just the little bit she got to sing.In "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina", there was the bad judgment of having Eva sing while flashbacks of her earlier life occurred, footage we had already seen and didn't need to interrupt the show's eleven o'clock number. If the show needed to use flashbacks (or show footage at the beginning of the film which we would see later as well), it made more sense to do it towards the end. This took away dramatic impact from the show's best song, more a fault of the editors and director than its leading lady, of course.Still, I have to rank this very highly for its technical achievements and for bringing the story to life. There have been much worse movie versions of Broadway musicals (and certainly much worse casting), and this one doesn't hit the mark of missed opportunity, although a stronger leading lady to make the dramatic marks truly hit would have certainly pushed it up to a "10".