Evita

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: Having seen the original stage play, I was not expecting too much from Hollywood, especially after hearing that Mandy Patinkin had been dropped from the planned cast. And yet I was pleasantly surprised by the film when it came out. I think anyone seeing the show without the preconceptions I had from the Broadway show would probably give it the full five stars.

Madonna does an excellent job, both in singing and acting, although she doesn't have the dramatic skills of Patty LuPone. Antonio Banderas was perhaps the most plesant surprise, delivering a performance that was very different from Mandy Patinkin's, yet every bit as satisfying. Jonothan Pryce's Peron was also exceptional, and every bit as enjoyable as Bob Gunton's Broadway performance.

I wasn't entirely pleased with the staging- I think in an effort to make the show more cinematic the director sacrified too much of the dance aspect of the show. Another reviewer has already noted that the pivotal "Buenos Aires" scene loses a lot in the movie version. But all in all, it's still one of the best on-screen musicals of the decade.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Madonna Fan and Yet...
Review: This is a musical that I have not seen done live -- only on the screen. So I cannot say how this compares to the theatrical presentation. My opinion of this movie is extremely high, as it captured me at once, and the musical-lover that I am, I adored the fact that almost every word of the movie was sung.

But what I really want to comment on here is that if you have stayed away from this movie because you think it might be another "Who's That Girl?" -- don't! Madonna does an excellent job in this film. It is the role she always wanted to play, and I don't think anyone could have done it better than her. She surprised me with her extraordinary performance. She BECAME Eva Peron, embodied her passion, her soul.

Great music, great acting, great cinematography. Great movie, and if you like musicals, it's a must-have for your collection.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Movie Ever seen
Review: Don't waste your time on this. Its good I saw some of it on cable, cause if I'd paid for this I'd still be crying.

Rating:
Summary: Evita (1996)
Review: Madonna has finally gotten the role that she said herself was born to play: Evita. This film is an up-dated movie-musical version of the broadway musical, Evita.

Madonna is in the role of Eva "Evita" Peron, who rose from poverty to riches and fame. Eva lived a life so perfect, so sublime, it seemed to good to be true. Until she became diagnosed with uterary cancer. She passed away on July 26, 1952, leaving her nation heartbroken.

Madonna was incredibly outstanding in this role. This was a role that was made only for Madonna and nobody else. They could've picked the best actress in the world and that actress still wouldn't come close to Madonna's performance. But the movie itself wasn't what I had expected. I was thinking this would be a movie with dialogue. I didn't expect to me a movie that was a musical. That's why I gave it three stars instead of five. Still, Madonna delivers another one of her best performances. Her rendition of Don't Cry For Me Argentina is nothing less than beautiful. I think her rendition of the song is the best one around.

If you haven't seen this film, please be my guest and see it. I don't know what the rest of you will think, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much.

Rating:
Summary: So who is this Santa Evita?
Review: Alan Paker's Evita is a big Hollywood musical based on an even bigger Broadway stage hit. It took twenty years and multiple changes of directors and stars to get to this point. The question that remains is was it all worth it. From my point of view the answer is a definite maybe.

Evita tells the watered down story of Eva Peron a woman who wanted it all and seemingly got it all by the time of her death at age 33. Madonna pulls off the role with ease. She blends herself into the role with abandon. It does not matter that she no longer looks like the 15 year old Eva Duarte she is supposed to be playing at the beginning of the film. Her vocals sweep and soar and we actually have a great time watching the Material Girl try to pull off the part of a lifetime.

The Greek chorus of the film is the character Che played by Antonio Banderas. Banderas is one of the surprises of the film. His singing is more than adequate and just under the surface there is the cynicism that is necessary to make the part work. The character of Eva had to be watered down for the movie to be shot on location and if you watch just closely enough Banderas brings some of Eva's questionable character back.

Alan Parker acquits himself well as director. The film moves along swiftly and looks great. Watch the crowd scenes during Peron's rise to power and the stirring cinematography that accompanies "A New Argentina" to see what I mean. If there is a problem here it is that at some points the film looks rather like a long form music video than an actaul feature film.

My only real problem with this disc is that there are no extras at all. Not even the theatrical trailer is presented. Hollywood pictures did a fine job with the transfer but give the buyer a little more for his money.

Watch this one with the sound up it is well worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Overall a great movie but a bit long.
Review: I bought this movie because I had heard some of my colleagues at work talking about it. Like most movie depictions of real life events it's not entirely accurate but overall it was good movie. Well preformed, good casting (although they could've found someone else besides Antonio Banderas to play Che), and best of all I liked how they included footage of the real Eva Peron. However I also found the movie to be a bit long; over two hours. I suspect the intended audiance was not the general populas. I wouldn't recommend this movie for childern or anyone else with a short attention span.

Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFUL!
Review: This is a beautiful movie, with an awesome acting by Madonna and Antonio Banderas. Both are wonderful! I would say it is not 5 stars because there are some parts of the history (details) of Evita that are missing. That's why I recommend in addition to the movie the reading of "Santa Evita" by Tomás Eloy Martínez (the Spanish original or the English translation by Helen Lane).
Anyway, the movie is wonderful, and I think it puts Evita where it should be (that's why Antonio Banderas is wonderful). This is one of the few musical movies I really like. You would also enjoy the 2CD's set "Evita. The complete motion picture music soundtrack".

Rating:
Summary: EVA'S been immortalized the BEST possible way.
Review: The life of Eva Peron is one that has intrigued millions throughout the years. Even before Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice decided to write a musical about her brief but amazing life, there were others who had tried to revive her legend. There was a short lived off-broadway play called "The Diamond Orchid" which was loosely based on her life, a soft-core European movie titled "Little Mother" released in the early 70's and a short lived French play titled "Eva Peron by Copi" which had the role of Evita played by a Transvestite. But it wasn't until the release of a double album in 1976 by Lloyd Webber and Rice that made Evita famous once again. 20 years later, after many false go-aheads, the film version was finally released.

The musical traces the brief but meteoric rise of Maria Eva Duarte de Peron. Her sudden rise from childhood poverty to becoming one of the world's most powerful woman, made her a hero to some, a power hungry villain to others. The movie, like the woman, was controversial. Even after the movie was over many were still left with the questions, was she a Saint or a Sinner? Good or Bad? Was she the Savior to Argentina's "shirtless" ones or a Monstrous dictator to the Well-to-do? People will just have to come up with their own conclusions but having studied the subject for over 12 years now, I must say this- DO NOT TAKE A BROADWAY/HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL AS A HISTORY LESSON!! Especially when the subject matter is someone who's as complicated as Eva Peron. Both Peronist and Anti-Peronist agree- the woman was an enigma, a paradox. So we will never know the whole truth. However the facts should be noted. Her foundation built over 1000 schools, over 100 hospitals, thousands of homes for the poor, several orphanages, old age homes, shelters for runaway girls, shelters for unwed mother, a complete miniature village for children, and youth hostels all between 1948-1952. Health care became free to the poor and the mortality rates among children improved and many diseases such as cholera and TB were reduced. She also sat in her office for 15-20 hours a day receiving the poor up until the last year of her life. She would visit shanty towns and personally give out food, sugar or a bottle of cider. She would pick up homeless people off the streets and take them back, in her limousine, to the residential palace where she would bathe them and feed them. Many have laughed at the idea of Eva Peron being referred to as "Santa Evita" (Saint Evita) but the above accomplishments are the reasons as to why so many thought of her as a holy emissary of God. And then of course is the Black aspects of her character. Her undying loyalty to her husband and his cause, her driving ambition, her alleged ruthlessness, her determination to succeed no matter what the cost.

The Movie itself is beautifully filmed with sumptuous costumes, glorious sets and Lloyd Webber's score is one of his best. Many have complained about the repetitiveness of the music but you CAN'T write a rock opera (no spoken dialogue) without recycling some of the tunes. You can't expect Andrew to write a NEW TUNE for every single sung phrase-THE MAN IS NOT GOD. Speaking of the music- it ranges from EXITING- "Buenos Aires", "Rainbow High"(my personal favorite) to THEATRICAL-"A New Argentina", "Rainbow Tour", to Downright HAUNTING- "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You", "Another Suitcase In Another Hall", "You Must Love Me". It is true that the score had to be modified to better suit Madonna's range (which is kinda cheating) but she never sounded better. Madonna's passion for the role is clearly evident in her performance. We saw Eva's passion, beauty, power, ambition and pain. We were charmed by her youthful vitality in the first half of the film, moved by her sincere attempt to win acceptance in the middle and saddened by the pain of her ravaged body in the final frames. The physical resemblance was also quite striking. However, I must state that Eva Peron at her physical peak (BEFORE the cancer destroyed her appearance) was incomparable in her elegance and radiant beauty. Looking at the several picture magazines of the time period and the newsreel footage of her, she was a larger than life persona with the hair, mouth and skin of a goddess- the song Rainbow high is very accurate in it's treatment of her elegance.

Being a fan and collector of Eva Peron, I have read and collected several magazines and books- I have over 100 in my collection, and I still find her story fascinating. Although the musical "Evita" is biased and viciously one-sided, the stage version of the show captivated me from the opening number to the final scene so I was eagerly anticipating the release of the movie musical version. Almost 20 years separate the original stage version and the movie version and there were some changes made, most notably- Eva Peron's character was portrayed more sympathetically. Many felt that the reason for this was solely because the makers needed Former Argentine President Carlos Menem's approval so they could use the Presidential Palace in the celebrated balcony scene. Anyone who has read Alan Parker's Book, "The Making of Evita" or any of the other biographies written by historians who ACTUALLY STUDIED the subject knows that that is not true. There have been many books about Eva Peron published since the opening of the stage musical but at the time when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice decided to write a musical about Evita, there weren't that many books on the subject. The only MAJOR biography available at the time was Mary Main's hostile and inaccurate "The Woman With the Whip". Notable historians of Eva Peron (Maryssa Navarro, Nicholas Fraser, J M Taylor, Alicia Dujovne Ortiz and EVEN ALAN PARKER) have denounced this book since the books author was a rich Anglo-Argentine who used the OPPOSITION as her informants and her book (although well written) is a malicious, anti-Peronist view of Eva's life. She accuses Eva Peron of every unpleasant act known to man. Stating she slept her way to the top is one thing but actually accusing someone of murder and torture without having the slightest shred of evidence is IRRESPONSIBLE- Mary Main even states in her book ..."there is no proof". Alan Parker and Madonna who had read every book there was on Evita took this into consideration and is why they chose to portray a more balanced view of Evita.

I can't help but laugh at all the praise CHICAGO has gotten this year and constantly being referred to as the movie that revived the movie musical - although it is an entertaining and well made movie it was by no means (and I know that many would agree) the BEST film of the year. EVITA was the FIRST major musical to come from Hollywood since "Grease". EVITA is rarely given credit for breathing new life to a movie genre that had been dead for nearly 20 years. In 1996 Evita (and Madonna) was snubbed by the Oscar's- although the movie did receive 5 Oscar nominations and it did win 3 Golden Globes, it didn't receive a nomination for BEST PICTURE or BEST DIRECTOR- whether you loved the movie or hated it, one has to admit that Alan Parker did an extraordinary job in transferring the musical from stage to screen.

In closing, EVITA - the movie, like the woman herself, is a LOVE IT or HATE IT type of experience. Many will hate the subject matter, the politics, the fact that there is no spoken dialogue (rock operas are an acquired taste). Others will take offense at the film's so called glorification of an "immoral and beautiful fascist leader". But for those wanting to experience something a little different- a Hollywood-esque attempt at a history lesson with some tango, pop, and theatre thrown in, EVITA may be the movie for you. Give it a chance and you just might fall under the seductive spell of the elegantly dressed and bejewelled temptress infront of the microphone. That is the magic of EVITA.

Rating:
Summary: A great adaptation of the stage musical
Review: Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's musical telling of the life of Eva Peron successfully makes the leap from stage to screen. Alan Parker ably directs a fine cast, which includes Antonio Banderas as Ché, Jonathan Pryce as Juan Peron, and Madonna as Eva Peron. The acting and the voice work are very good, and Madonna surprises you with her talent.

The music is equally wonderful, keeping the rock opera feel of the original stage show. Also, the new song "You Must Love Me," written by Sir Andrew and Tim Rice, flows nicely with the original music and won a deserved Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Costumes, acting, sets, visuals and music all combine to create a great movie experience. A note of caution to some, though: this is sung through with very little spoken dialoque. I remember seeing this in the theater and listening to some people complain about it and walk out of the movie. Stick with it, and you will definitely enjoy it!!

Rating:
Summary: The music is absolutely incredible ! This movie ROCKS!
Review: This has to be one of the best films of all time. Madonna is at her peak on the singing, dancing, and everything. There's nothing I would change. The music is so wonderful that it will be stuck in your head constantly. Anyone would fall in love with this film. (of all ages)