Evita:Woman Behind the Myth

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and intelligence made her powerful yet loved
Review: Until very recently, the only way a woman could achieve political power was through a powerful man. In many of those cases, those who were able to do so accomplished their task via sexual means. Eva Peron (Evita) was such a woman. Born the illegitimate daughter of a poor woman, she was beautiful and ambitious. Combine this with a significant intelligence and the willingness to go through men until she found the one she wanted, and you have Evita. She finally managed to link up with the rising star of Juan Peron, although unlike some other political marriages, this one was based on a deep genuine affection.
As you can see from the footage on this tape, Evita was glamorous and deeply loved by the majority of the Argentine people. She spent an enormous amount of time and energy in helping the poor, and she had no qualms about pressing the flesh with them. Even though she was advised not to touch people who were clearly very sick, she did not hesitate to hug them. In watching the tape, it is surprising to see her with an extremely elaborate hairdo, wearing expensive jewelry and clothing, yet being adored by people who would not earn the cost of her outfit in their entire lives.
However, as was almost always the case in Central and South America in those times, Juan Peron's power was maintained through the military. It was only the combination of Evita's popularity with the poor and the strong arm of the military that Peron managed to stay in power. Once Evita died in her early thirties, his regime soon collapsed and he was forced to flee the country. Evita's saga after her death was bizarre. A Spanish pathologist spent years embalming her body and after Peron fell, the new Argentine rulers did not know what to do with it. They eventually shipped it to a falsely marked grave in Italy out of fear that it would be a shrine for Peron supporters. However, when Peron came back into favor, the body was returned and buried in a place of honor.
Although she was clearly a second-rate actress, Evita Peron was the biggest female star on the Latin American stage during her time. She was an excellent combination of beauty, intelligence and charm, understanding public relations in a way that no other Latin leader did. This video captures all of that. You may not approve of how she rose to power, but you cannot deny that she wielded it well.

Rating:
Summary: Admirable attempt, impossible objective: Evita is all myth!
Review: "Around no historical figure in modern times are there such complicated myths as those that exist around the figure of Eva, second wife of Juan Peron, best-known by the affectionate diminutive, Evita." So begins the book EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON. The author, Marysa Navarro, is interviewed in this video and adds, "(Evita) was the woman who invented her own myth, and she was very good at it, because she was an actress, a radio actress. She knows how to pretend to be something other than what she is." So the implication is clear, anyone hoping to remove the myths, and see the woman behind the myths, is going against Evita's wishes. And this is a formidable opponent. Evita was a genius. A genius that, unfortunately, this video (and none I have yet seen) cannot fully encompass.

Robert D. Crassweller, in his book PERON AND THE ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA, notes that, "(Evita's) brief and dazzling years were so successful because, in good part, she was so profoundly of the ethos . . . but it was the ethos of the old Hispanic Creole tradition . . . (pp. 248)." He further notes that, "All Hispanic life seemed to be concentrated in a series of distant opposites held in very uneasy tension. The vastly rich and the totally poor; the highest of religious ideals and the lowest of conniving practices; unquestioning loyalty and foul treachery . . . a society of disjointed dualisms, lacking any continuum (pp. 27)." The author argues that understanding this concept of extremes, so counter to Anglo-Saxon sensibilities, is key to understanding Hispanic culture. Since Evita lived in and embodied Hispanic culture, any biography of her that does not take this into account is doomed to fall short of an enlightened depiction of her. And that is what happens with this video.

Don't get me wrong; this is an interesting video. What is most interesting about this video is the wide range of people who are interviewed, most of them authors, but a few friends and admirers. These include: a photographer from Evita's modeling days, film star Libertad Lamarque, Tomas Eloy Martinez (author of SANTA EVITA), Lillian Guardo (friend who accompanied Evita on her tour of Europe), historian Felix Luna, and Maria Elena Warner (resident of the "Evita City" housing district, which Evita founded). This wide range of commentators, some pro-Evita and some not, is wonderful. Unfortunately, no one is really given a very long time to talk. It really leaves you wanting more.

Somewhat irritating is the fact that while this video succeeds in dispelling certain myths about Evita (such as the belief that she helped free Peron from jail in 1945, thus ushering him into his first presidential term), it reinforces others. The most notable re-told myths being: the idea that Evita had Libertad Lamarque "blacklisted" from working in Argentine cinema ("Libertad left Argentina for Mexico in 1946... Since the Mexican movie industry was in better shape . . . Libertad Lamarque's films were always shown in Argentina, and she came back frequently to see her family." EVITA: THE REAL LIFE OF EVA PERON, pp. 202); the assertion that Peron was a fascist ("Peronism was not fascism. Some of Peronism's adherents had a fascist outlook and mentality . . . But all this was relatively superficial. No fascist society was ever erected on a mass base of laboring and dispossessed hordes. In its own description, Peronism rejected the Fascist parallel. It was more intimately grounded in the national history and ethos than was any European fascism." PERON AND THE ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA, pp. 220). Thus this video claims by its title to dispel myths, but it really just perpetuates some.

Interesting and eerie is the fact that never-before-shown footage of Evita's embalmed corpse is included. Evita had been dead several decades at this point, and yet her corpse is perfectly preserved like Lenin's. Unsettling to the North American observer, such an attitude toward death could be seen in light of the "Hispanic preoccupation with death and with the splendor and dignity associated with it (PERON AND THE ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA, pp. 248)." Again, this cultural distinction is not mentioned by the narrator.

Not surprisingly, it is Madonna herself who seems to grasps the most important aspect of Evita's life and personality: the tradition of polarization. "I became sort of obsessed with her," Madonna confesses in a very brief sound bite, "People I talked to were either completely for her or completely against her. That fascinated me. I wondered, 'What's the truth in all this?'" That 'is' the truth about Evita, that a polarized culture created polarized myths about a polarized woman. For some she is a saint, for others the devil. For those with no concept of the polarities of Hispanic culture, she is destined to be an enigma. Unfortunately, this documentary largely overlooks this vital ingredient.

Most memorable about this video are the statements made my Antonio Cafiero, Peron's Minister of Commerce: "When you put together the combination of being a woman, and being fanatic for a cause, you have an explosion the size of an atom bomb. THAT was Eva Peron." The more gentle quote by Mr. Cafiero being, "She is the symbol of the eternal struggle, the fight of the poor and disinherited who want more dignity in their lives. People don't forget that." Indeed, this year marks the 50th anniversary of her death, and here I sit writing a review for a biography of her . . .

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: If anyone buys this video with the idea of learning the truth about Eva Peron's life, he'll be disappointed. Unfortunately, it appears the producers of "Biography" simply accepted the misinformation that Webber/Rice used for their production. It was interesting to see real life film of scenes that were reproduced in the movie. Otherwise, the video is very disappointing. If one wants to know about the real Evita, look for a good book. Considering how little research seems to have gone into the production of this biography, I'll be slower in accepting what I see in other A&E Biography segments.

Rating:
Summary: *Fantastic* Biography
Review: Personally, I love this biography. I first watched it about two years ago. I think that A&E could not have done a better job at doing this video. It is such a good video that I bought it from amazon.com yesterday. If you are intersted in learning about Eva Peron then I suggest watching this biography.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This special went into the myths of this remarkable Fascist leader.And showed her rise to power.Showing photos of her in her sexy prime as a young girl in Buenos Aires to her rise as the myth as we know her. Telling her short life story in a respectable manner. Bravo,Eva! May your life not be forgotten as we approach the new Century...