Evita

Excellent Lloyd Webber-Rice musical is finally brought to the silver screen twenty years after the release of its concept album. Being used to watching flashy, colourful musicals, namely from MGM, full of catchy tunes and full of breathtaking dance routines, "Evita" left me quite shocked. It was the first (and last) "political" musical I saw. The music impressed me at once, however the story and the setting did not quite do so at first sight. It was only later, when I read something about the life story of Eva Peron did I really appreciate the excellent work Lloyd Webber and Rice did. Even though they were not 100% faithful to the real story, the bio-musical gave a somewhat clear picture of what type of woman Eva Peron was. The movie was great with its re-enactments of the 1940s-1950s Argentine elections, however, having personally performed in the stage version (playing a descamisado, a waiter, a policeman and one of Eva's lovers), I cannot but point out the several drawbacks it had. It is true that the funeral, the electoral campaign and the terrorism were by far better on screen than on stage, yet the stage musical had a certain charm which was lost in the film. It could be due to the fact that on stage there was some dancing involved while the movie had none; it could be because one was live and one was playback; it could be because some of the harmonies were lost in the movie; it could be simply due to the fact that in one I participated while in the other I was just a spectator. I don't know, still the stage version was more "alive". Nonetheless, in order to be fair, I have to admit that the movie version did have some improvements as regards to the play. The best one of them was the song "You Must Love Me". Apart from finally re-uniting composer and lyricist after more than 10 years of cold war, it presents the First Lady of Argentina as a woman who has some feelings, who is afraid in front of her approaching death, who is not only interested in becoming vice-president, as the stage production tends to hint. How much this is historically true is beyond me, yet it is good to give some human element to the heroine.

I was quite impressed by the actors' interpretations. Madonna has finally showed the world that she is able to look great without taking her clothes off, that she is more than just voice, boobs and scandal. Jonathan Pryce was excellent as the Argentine president - such a pity he had so little to sing, having such a great voice. Antonio Banderas impressed me - I did not know he was that good at singing. The role of the narrator was quite a breakthrough after his ‘tough-guy' parts, and he did it quite well. Some critics said that this movie would set the way for future film versions of musicals - I hope they were right!

Surely Madonna was made for this role, that of Eva Duarte de Peron, a young girl from the country who rises to the top with a combination of brains, wits, political savvy and sexuality. Sure she used men to attain her dreams, but what was a girl to do in 1930s-40s Argentina? Antonio Banderas is superb as Che, the "narrator" critic, perhaps the soul of the Argentinian peasants. Banderas' background is stage musicals, and he matches Madonna in every way. Jonathan Pryce is also excellent in his role as the dictator who rises to power only with the talents of Eva. This is not your ordinary musical. Almost every word is sung, as in opera, and the whole thing works. Andrew Lloyd Webber proves himself again a master tunesmith. Besides "Don't cry for me Argentina," all the other songs (if you can call them that) are beautiful, ranging from sweet ballads to waltz and rock. The film is lavish in breadth and depth, with thousands of extras just like the old Hollywood spectaculars. No f/x here, but real people. The cinematography is also superb. This is truly a triumph, a glorious experience, totally unique in film. Highly recommended. *****

I liked this movie. I thought it kept it's edge and that was largely because of Madonna. I didn't want to like Madonna in the part...she seemed too flighty, too self-involved. I didn't hold out too much hope for her acting.

She really surprised me. Not only did she do a wonderful job with the script as given, she also went so far as to watch footage of Eva Peron and got the hand gestures and facial expressions down.

I also heard that she is credited in obtaining permission from the Argentine government to film at the Casa Rosada. Eva Peron is STILL considered a saint, and they were worried the movie would show her in a bad light. Madonna proved to them (and then followed through on film) that she was going to give the role dignity...to show Eva Peron in a balanced way as a person with flaws, not an evil woman bent on destroying Argentina.

She actually made the movie for me to the point where I couldn't envision anyone else in the role.

Antonio Banderas was also a bit of a surprise for me. I didn't know anything about him and kinda considered him eye candy instead of a serious actor. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out he can sing as well as act.

Jonathan Price was good at portraying a Juan Peron. He could be gentle and kind to his friends, but also showed no remorse for "removing" anyone who opposes him. I read in another review of this movie that Price wasn't barbaric enough for the part. Juan Peron WAS very charismatic...he had to be, or else he would NEVER had been elected president.

One of the things I liked most about this movie was that all the people in it seemed real. The extras were neither overly good looking or freakishly ugly. They looked like anyone you would see walking down any given street.

The cinematography is splendid, and it's hard to beat the soundtrack.

It's an 8/10 for me.

I used to think that there were a couple of absolutes in this world other than the standard issue ones. One is that I will always hate Andrew Lloyd Webber and another is that Madonna will never be a good actress. After seeing Alan Parker's 1996 musical "Evita" however, starring Madonna and featuring the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, I have had to amend those two statements slightly.

"Evita" tells the true story of Eva Peron, the wife of Argentina's former president (and dictator) Juan Peron. In a story that was ready-made for Hollywood, she started out as the illegitimate and poor daughter of a man who dies when she is very young, sleeps with a mediocre nightclub singer at the age of 15 in order to gain passage to Buenos Aires, and from there begins her struggle to reach whatever achievements her ambitions require (which is a lot). Using her body to gain important friends (because, frankly, she didn't have any acting talent) she becomes an actress and radio star before she meets Juan Peron, at the time, an up and coming politician. They get married and the two work to get him elected as the president of Argentina on the platform that "they are workers too". When he is elected, Evita's popularity grows even more, to the point where her dreams of becoming the vice president of the country could be realized, until she is stricken with cancer and dies, essentially with the image of a saint, at the age of 32.

"Evita" is a gorgeous, lush film, full of thousands of extras, great location scenes and features a very talented cast. It acts almost as an incredibly big budgeted and elaborate music video, mainly because it features almost constant singing, and well, it stars one of the most visible music video stars of all time. Madonna finally found her part in this film, and no, it wasn't just easier because she didn't have a lot of speaking lines. It is clear that not only did she take voice lessons (which actually is true) because her voice quality was better than "normal", and has stayed that way since the making of this film, but she was able to knock off some decent dramatic moments. Banderas, though he spent a lot of the film looking pretty furious with the camera, doesn't have to prove any acting mettle (anyone who has seen him in an Almodovar film can attest to this) but did come up with a surprisingly good singing voice. Jonathan Pryce, who was curiously cast as Peron also did a good job, though his part was fairly minor, and even at that he was relegated to giving Evita a lot of loving looks. All in all, however, the slick production, some catchy music (I cannot believe I am actually saying that I actually really like a film featuring the music of the insipid, mainstream, gnome-like Webber) that is good enough to listen to extra-curricularly and performances that weren't bad made for a pretty good and very entertaining viewing.

Don't get me wrong – there are more than a few eye-rolling moments in "Evita", but the good definitely outweighs the bad, exponentially. The story, while coherent, was pretty mediocre, and I found that I felt that there were some things that were glossed over or trivialized with a cute musical number. Admittedly, however, this IS a musical and you don't sign up for a hard-hitting knowledge fest when you watch one. This wasn't the first time I had seen this film, and yet I still end up getting so wrapped up in the action that I end up bawling a couple of times, and this viewing was no exception. More importantly, though, I didn't feel like a doofus when I recommended it as a movie that three guys and I should watch together, because while it's slick and a musical, (and therefore, traditionally, a chick film) there's enough compelling elements to the film that will keep some guys happy as well. Good job, Parker and thanks a lot for blowing two of the absolutes I normally stand by. 6/10 --Shelly

"Evita" is an opera, albeit a rock opera, in the true sense of the word -- there can't be fifty words of spoken dialogue in the entire movie. Music drama is a highly stylized form, which admittedly is not everyone's cup of tea. Perhaps that is why the overall rating given the film by IMDb voters, 6.3 out of 10, is as low as it is. To those of us who like the operatic form, though, this is an outstanding film, beautiful to look at, well acted, and most importantly well sung. The only weakness I found was the one that inheres in every Andrew Lloyd Webber piece: too much recycling of too few musical themes over two-plus hours. Nevertheless, Tim Rice's lyrics are wonderful, they are consistently inventive and drive the story. Madonna was good in the title role but Antonio Banderas's performance as Ché was great, both dramatically and musically. "Evita" is highly recommended, 8 out of 10.