Starring Madonna, Jonathan Pryce, Antonio Banderas. and Jimmy Nail
Directed by Alan Parker
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics by Tim Rice
Let's switch things up a bit with our last biography of the week. Though Eva Peron began as an actress and dancer, she's best known as the wife of Argentinian lieutenant general Juan Peron. Eva was even more beloved with the much-abused lower-classes of Argentina than her husband, due to her own lower-class background and her ability to speak directly to and relate to them. Even now, the Perons and their years ruling Argentina are highly controversial in and out of South America.
Andrew Lloyd Webber released a concept album revolving around her reign in 1976. It became a full-fledged musical in 1978 and was a hit in productions around the world. It took almost 20 years to bring Evita's story to the big screen, with the production running through multitudes of directors and scriptwriters. How does it look nowadays, with the world and politics once again in upheaval? Let's begin in 1952 just as the owner of a movie house in Buenos Aires, Argentina announces the death of beloved political figure Eva Peron and find out...
The Story: After our narrator Che (Banderas) decries all the media hype around Evita's death, he takes us back to her beginnings in 1934. Eva Duarte (Madonna) is determined to get out of Juanin and find her destiny in Buenos Aires. She hitches a ride with tango dancer and writer Agustin Magdali after she meets him at one of her shows, but once she's in the city, she doesn't stay with him for long. Every lover she falls in with is another step up the ladder, from model to radio star and movie actress.
She first meets Juan Peron (Pryce) at a charity ball for the devastating 1944 San Juan earthquake and is immediately taken by him. They have a similar background, with him also coming from humble beginnings, and share the same desire to elevate the ignored common man in Argentina. Evita even goes on a "Rainbow Tour" of Europe. Spain adores her, but Italians are still wary of Fascism and attack her car. The English won't even see her.
Eva is not in good shape when she finally returns home. She does start a fund for the poor and gains Argentinian women the right to vote, but she's seen less and less, and becomes more and more tired. Che asks her what she's really done with her life, before it slips away, making both of them wonder if it was really for the people...or for her own glory.
The Song and Dance: Madonna spent over a decade begging for this part...and she was right. She's a wonderful Eva, coquettish enough to make you understand why all those men fall for her, yet tough and ambitious enough to capture Juan Peron's attention. Pryce and Banderas more than match her as the general who becomes dictator with the help of his devoted wife and those who adore her and the "common man" who sees all, sings all, and knows even more.
Disney spared no expense on the production, too. Thousands of extras hang onto Eva's every word. There's gorgeous gowns and luxurious furs that show Eva's lavish lifestyle, filming in Budapest to stand in for Buenos Aires, and enormous sets representing other landmarks in Argentina like the Casa Rosada where Evita gave her famous speeches to the public.
Favorite Number: We open with the people mourning in "A Cinema In Buenos Aires, 1952" and the instrumental and chorus "Requiem for Evita" as people around Argentina cry for one of their own. Che decries the mass hysteria surrounding her death in "Oh What a Circus." He finally takes us back to the young Eva, as she remembers when she first met Agustin ("On This Night of a Thousand Stars"). She's warned "Eva Beware of the City," but she's so happy to be leaving Juanin, she doesn't really care. She's on the train to "Buenos Aires."
She rapidly works up the ladder, using powerful men and common men alike to get herself out of the gutter and into a place of power. It's just "Another Suitcase In Another Hall." "Goodnight and Thank You" has Banderas singing about the 1942 coup and how Eva switched from pursuing photographers and directors to politicians. "Hello and Goodbye" and "I'd Be Surprisingly Good to You" introduces Juan Peron to Eva, who becomes "Juan's Latest Flame." Even after he's arrested, she still promises "A New Argentina" if he's made president.
After Juan is elected president, Eva gives her famous speeches "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada." In between, she tells her country "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina." Che reminds her at a government ball that she's now "High Flying, Adored," but those who fly too fast and too hard often fall even faster. Eva thinks she's on a "Rainbow High," but as Che points out, her famous "Rainbow Tour" isn't as successful as the government paints it. Che thinks "The Actress Hasn't Learned the Lines (You Want to Hear)" as Eva spends money trying to woo the aristocracy, who aren't impressed with her donations to the poor. After all, "And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out)."
"Pardito Feminista" shows Eva's work for the poor as Juan insists "She's a Diamond." Even as Eva realizes just how sick she is, she imagines herself swirling with the scolding Che in a "Waltz for Eva and Che." As Che reminds her, "Your Little Body Is Breaking Down." Eva is more worried about how her husband will react to her cancer in the Oscar-nominated ballad "You Must Love Me." "Eva's Final Broadcast" takes place shortly before her death in a reprise of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," while she and Che end with a "Lament" that she wasn't able to do more.
Trivia: Evita began as a concept album by Webber and Rice in 1976. It went over well enough for them to do a fully-staged version of the show in London in 1978 and on Broadway a year later. Both shows were hits, with the London version running six years, and the Broadway show four. The 2006 London revival didn't go over well. It went slightly better on Broadway in 2012, running over a year.
What I Don't Like: First of all, like most of Webber's big epic rock operas, this is not a feel-good musical. It's a dark, dark story about one of history's most controversial leaders. It's also not for families. We see all the violence going on in Argentina with all the coups and strikes before, during, and after Peron's regime, not to mention the insinuated sex with Eva's constantly changing partners and the talk of politics, Fascism, and South American history. Argentinians were so incensed with the depiction of one of their most beloved historical figures, they put out a government-sanctioned film that dove further into Evita's life around the same time.
This is also a very long movie, over two hours. Not to mention, it's a through-sung opera with no dialogue. That would be a hard sell for even for a more upbeat movie. It's also a huge movie, with tons of extras, an epic story spanning three decades and a major war. It's not for those who prefer their musicals simpler or fluffier. There's also the simple fact that, while Evita and her controversial reign is still much-discussed in South America, she's not as well-known in the northern half of the world. I'd never even heard of her myself until I read about this show.
The Big Finale: Powerhouse performances from the three leads and the breathtaking production makes this worth checking out for adult fans of Madonna, Webber and Rice, or Banderas, those with an interest in world history, or folks who like their musicals on the bigger side.
Home Media: In print on DVD, but fairly expensive at the moment. Between the current price and the length, you might be better off streaming this one.
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