Evita (1996)

Simply A Masterpiece

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

a surprising film. for the recreation of an image in each detail. for the flavor of great musicals. for Madona and her impressive work. for Jonathan Pryce. and for Banderas. it is a melodramatic story, remembering, in the same measure, the soap operas and the propaganda about Evita. but it is a film who descend from a musical. and this explains everything - the side of fairy tale, the love story, the chance to become, for many viewers, the film of a song. this is all.

I had seen many stage productions of Evita before this film version came out and was delighted by Madonna's performance, because she captured Eva Peron so well.However the changes from the stage to the screen were horrific. I have heard many of these were to gain the approval of the Argentine government for location filming. If so, they should have shot it elsewhere.Gone was the "Che" character (which was merely a chorus anyway as Guevara has no real connection to the Perons) but the replacement by Antonio Bandaras made no sense as he had to be coached. His voice was "okay" but fell in comparison to Madonna.Lyrics were changed, "softened" to make Eva less of a self-serving type, more approachable. Peron was not cast so much as a fascist (which he was) and Eva was less power-mad.It probably mirrors better the way Argentina would LIKE Evita to have been, but not what she was.

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".

I had first heard about Evita through a parody: "SCTV" did a parody ad for a musical called "Indira" about Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (portrayed by Andrea Martin) which had her singing "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" with Slim Whitman (Joe Flaherty) warbling the male part before segueing to another song. I then saw the actual commercials for "Evita" with, I think, Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin doing those songs I previously saw spoofed on that "SCTV" spot. So over 30 years later, I finally watched the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical with Madonna essaying the title role. She's quite good singing songs different from her set list especially on the one original song for the movie-"You Must Love Me". Having her veer from caring to shallow and back was also partly natural especially considering the contradictory versions of Evita's life I read about recounted on Wikipedia after seeing the movie. So, yes, she deserves high praise for taking this role and gets much help from both Antonio Banderas as Che and Jonathan Pryce as Eva's eventual husband, Juan Peron. In summary, I highly enjoyed Evita.