Friday, February 28,1997
Michele Choate
Movie Reviewer
Rating: PG
Director: Alan Parker
Hate musicals?....Stay at home. If
you can sometimes tolerate a really
good musical, give this one a
chance...it might just grab you.
Evita is a film version of the
1970’s Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd
Webber Broadway rock musical of the
same name. The story is of Eva
Peron (Madonna), a woman of humble
working class origins and illegitimate
birth, who captures the heart and hand
of Argentine eventual dictator, Juan
Peron (Jonathan Pryce) and in the
process becomes a heroine of the “little
people”. Argentina of the 40’s and
50’s suffers from high imemployment,
poor living conditions, and civil unrest
among the labor class. Before her
untimely death from cancer at the age
of 33, Evita endears herself to the
masses through her very public acts of
charity and her open denunciation of
the country’s privileged few. Yet, her
glamour and her comfort with the
trappings of wealth, are largely
responsible for her public appeal. The
film challenges us to explore Eva’s
motivations. Was her true ambition
to champion the poor or to acquire
fame and adoration? (Remember: Eva
was an actress prior to becoming first
lady).
The music, choreography, and
camera work are remarkable. The
®ovie should be a must for film
students.. However, the no-dialogue,
all-music platform is tiresome at times
makes the storyline somewhat
murky. Those unfamiliar with
rgentine history would benefit from a
snort primer before seeing the film.
Madonna purportedly wrote
arker a letter begging to be chosen for
® role of Eva Peron Her
Performance was remarkable. Antonio
^deras was equally as good in his
e as Che, the wandering narrator.
Who knew he could sing?
Page 1
Arts
ID,
Movie review!
Evita
*♦*
^aditional
Evita
IS not a movie in the
sense; however, it is
fo,. ■ ''w.ov, uuw
'ascmating entertainment.
Windy Gordon
Movie Reviewer
Maybe it really is die “Year of the
Woman.” Everyone was caught up in
the wonderful achievements of women
at last summer’s Olympic games, and
those women are minor leaguers
compared to Eva Peron and her film
stand-in. Madonna. Too seldom is
Hollywood willing to invest precious
production dollars in a story about a
woman. Especially a woman who is
strong, assertive and achieving.
Equally rare are the occasions when
Hollywood hires the strong, assertive
professional to play such a character.
“Evita” gives us a full screen view of
two of the most notable women of this
half of the 20* century.
Eva Peron’s story is not always
noble, nor always uplifting. She used
what she had at her disposal to rise
above the ghettos of Buenos Aires.
With a bit of talent, a larger bit of
beauty and a huge amount of self-
assurance, Eva worked, cajoled and
seduced her way to the pinnacle of
Argentine culture. Who knows how
she mixed her talents, efforts and
allure? She was neither the saint
described by her admirers nor the
tramp described by her enemies. Eva
Peron did what she needed to. How
are we to judge her when we know so
little of how she rose so far?
Once she reached her place in the
sun, Eva wore diamonds and haute
couture. The ghetto fell away as she
traveled to the world’s capital cities
and dined with kings, prime ministers,
and presidents. Yet, events suggest that
there was more to Eva Peron than self
serving luxury. She had everything
that the privileged could hope for, but
it seems that she was more than a
greedy opportunist. Eva wanted to
take the people of Argentina, her
“companeros”, along for the ride.
“Evita” is clearly cast around the idea
that people of Argentina lived a richer
life through their love of and
fascination with Ev? Peron
If the central premise of this story
is identifying with another person to
feel a different life, then who else
could have played Eva but Madonna.
For the last decade Americans have
been fascinated with projecting
themselves into Madonna’s life and she
has never resisted us. The “Material
Girl” has consistently chosen a public
life served up to us in glossy photos
and steamy rock videos. She has taken
us along on her own ascent to the top
of pop music, pop culture and left a
wake of wild eyed, bleached blonde,
bustier clad, admirers and waimabes.
Madonna didn’t lift us out of squalor
and poverty, but she let us leave our
safe, white bread lifestyles and dance
closer to the flame without having to
fear getting burned.
Yes, this film is about two women,
the hero of a country and the hero of a
culture. It is also a jam-packed,
rocking, vibrant songfest that sweeps
us up and carries us through an
interesting story. Within minutes of
the first frame, the music of Andrew
Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and the
brilliant images of Alan Parker start to
pound home the message, “This is no
mere musical. Don’t look for
rhapsodic sweetness ‘a la Mitsy Gaynor
in ‘South Pacific.’” This score, these
images, the wide open vistas of the
exterior shots take “Evita” to a level
that is much more than a musical.
Antonio Banderas, in the first
minutes of his performance as Che,
takes possession of the story line. In
fact, he is so strong that it takes a
crowd of thousands and the most
memorable song of the film, to
displace him from center stage, and
then he is only out of mind for a few
moments. Banderas saunters, struts,
strolls, and stands through his scenes as
the mysterious ever present observer,
narrator, and sometimes companion of
Eva Peron. Who could have been such
a pervasive presence, such an adoring
fan and so steadfast a companion? Is
he Argentina? As he dances with
Madonna/Eva are we watching the
sweet but tragic final embrace of a
nation in love with a woman who opens
the curtains and allows everyone to see
true privilege? Whomever Banderas is
meant to be, he stands out as a real
treat amid the many pleasures of this
movie.
Some weeks before the film
opened, critics began to decry elevating
a dictator’s wife to such lofty heights.
“We shouldn’t open our hearts to a
story praising Peron. She was party to
a reign of brutal repression, violent
control of political opposition and
‘strongman politics’ of the worst type.”
Yes, all of that is probably true, but
this s*ory isn’t about jackbooted thugs
and bloody conflicts between different
political powers. Those events are
backdrop; this is a love story. When
Eva Peron was lifted far above her
miserable beginnings, when she found
the gold ring in her hand and had the
world at her feet, she didn’t turn her
back on the place of her birth. Though
she was elevated to modem day
royalty, she reached out to and
embraced the dirty, street weary people
of Argentina’s farms and Buenos
Aires’ ghettos.
It is as if the homecoming queen
asked her chubby childhood friend to
take her to die dance. Who doesn’t
feel some thrill of excitement when that
poor guy finally stands m the spotlight
with the most beautiful girl in school?
With each line of score in this story,
we are able to watch Eva and the
people of Argentina take another turn
on the dance floor. It is no wopder
that their heads are spinning and hearts
are breaking when fate takes their
dream date out of their arms before the
dance is over.
Should we have homecoming
queens or Eva Perons? Maybe not, but
I bet the big boy standing alone in a
rented tuxedo hopmg to hold her close
one more time believes that the
homecoming queen is better than life
itself. I also bet the people of
Argentina, lifted so close to happiness
by their dear Evita, would love to hear
that music play and fpel her lead them
in the dance just one more time.