Eva Peron

Rating:
Summary: Powerful portrayal of Latin America's most powerful woman
Review: Eva Peron was born in rural Argentina in 1919. At the age of 15 she made her way to the capital, Buenos Aires, to pursue her dreams of cinema stardom. By 26 she was the first lady of the nation, becoming the liaison between the people of Argentina and her husband, Juan Peron. She presided over the creation of the Eva Peron Foundation, the first real welfare system the nation had ever seen (for the first time in Argentine history there was no inequality in health care), created entire cities where thousands of homes were given to the impoverished, pushed for legislation that benefited women (including granting women the right to vote), and challenged just about every notion Latin America had about women's roles, defying even her husband's requests that she slow down.

Argentine director Juan Carlos Desanzo has decided to focus on the years 1951-52 in Evita's life. She has decided that she would like to become the first female vice president in her country's history, the first in world history. But she has two adversaries: the oligarchy, who would be horrified to see a woman of her "common" background officially recognized; the military, who would not stand for the possibility of a female commander in the event of their president's death. Can Evita, with the wild enthusiasm of the people for her candidacy, defeat them? Will her husband support her bid? The majority of EVA PERON is devoted to posing and answering these questions.

Is this the definitive version of Evita? There is no way to know for sure. But I can assure you that the producers succeeded in their attempt to offer a counter-point to the Madonna version, to put more substance to the story. In fact, it's hard to believe the respective movies concern the same figure. Argentine actress Esther Goris brings Eva Peron to life, amazingly making human a woman who has become superhuman, an archetype, a legend, and a myth.

Andrew Parodi