Throwback Movie Night: Evita

Evita is a 1996 movie based on the musical opera of the same name. Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote the music, and it's (of course) spectacular. If you saw Les Miserables last year and were feeling really against the idea of musical movies, watch Evita and have your mind completely changed. I remember seeing this movie in the theaters and thinking it was sooooo long. Watching it again, it didn't seem as long as I remembered. Either the story swept me up more than it did when I watched it as a child, or I just am way more patient (hard to believe). Oliver Stone was one of the writers of the screenplay. This strikes me as very odd, for some reason. But, at any rate, he did a great job at writing the life of Eva Duarte de Peron into something Madonna and Antonio Banderas could make into a masterpiece. I'm not jesting, I think this movie is a masterpiece.




As far as I'm concerned, this movie made Madonna into an icon. I'm sure people would argue that she was all set to be an icon pre-Evita, but this movie role made her into more than the pop star who strutted around in a pointy bra and made a sex book. She is classy, elegant, believable, and truly showcases her vocals in the role of Eva Peron. Antonio Banderas as Che is also fantastic. By the way, 'che' is an Argentinian title, sorta like, 'dude'. Some people seem to think that Banderas' character is Che Guevara, but I don't think so. He's a narrator and was called 'che' to be sort of the 'everyman' in Argentina at the time. Every song he sings he's singing mostly from the perspective of the people as a whole, not one particular man. That's how I look at it, anyway.

What's not to love about this movie? The songs are fantastic. The movie was filmed on location in Argentina, Hungary, and England. I'm not sure why Hungary, except that in 1996, perhaps they just found some architectural style had survived where it hadn't in Argentina. The costumes were spot-on and gorgeous. I pretty much envied all of Madonna's wardrobe, hats, and hairstyles throughout the movie. I give a lot of credit to the costume people because Madonna found out she was pregnant about halfway through filming and the costumes had to be altered to cover her growing belly, since Peron was a slight woman who never had children.

And the story is great: The movie starts with the announcement of Eva's death and the funeral march through Buenos Aires. Then you get the flashback to her youth, and the story of her life goes from there. She was an actress and radio star, turned socialite who runs into the rising star of Juan Peron at a fundraising event. They fall in love and her political drive seems to sort of out-drive his, and he comes to power due in large part to the work of Eva, who was passionate about helping the lower classes. She inspired the working class in Argentina and became somewhat of an idol. The heartbreaking part of the story is that Eva is so popular, so bright a star, and so powerfully inspiring, but her life is very short. She dies at the age of 33 of cervical cancer and that's where we re-connect with the opening scene of the film.

I love this movie. I think this is the prime example of the right way to turn a musical or opera into a movie. And a shining example of giving a pop star a chance to show what their talent really can be if given seriously awesome music. I'm struggling with which song to share. The movie is filled with such wonderful songs. I'll share two. First, is Antonio Banderas and Madonna singing as Eva uses various men to climb the ladder of society and then the second video is her final broadcast as the First Lady of Argentina before she dies.




Crazy-ridiculous-truths on Eva Peron: The after-life of Eva's body is almost as interesting as her life itself. When she became first lady of Argentina in 1946, Eva Peron changed her birth certificate to show that she had been born to married parents rather than unmarried, which made her illegitimate. While she was altering things on the government record, she decided also to make herself three years younger (why not?), so upon her death, the government announced that she died at the age of 30...but she was really 33. Argentina was making a giant memorial to house the body of Eva Peron when there was a military coup and somebody stole her embalmed corpse and hid it for over 15 years. In 1971, it was revealed that she had been sent to Milan, Italy, where she was buried in a crypt with the name Maria Maggi. Juan Peron, her former husband, had gotten re-married after Eva's death to a woman named Isabel, and they were living in exile in Spain. Juan requested that Eva's body be exhumed and he kept it on a platform near his dining room table (creepy) until he and Isabel returned to Argentina in 1973. Juan Peron became President again, very briefly, and then he died in office. Isabel had been elected vice-president when her hubby regained the Presidency, so she succeeded him (thereby becoming the first female President in the Western Hemisphere, you go girl) and it was Isabel who finally brought Eva's body back to Argentina and had her buried in Buenos Aires. In order to make sure Eva's body is finally staying put, the tomb has a couple of trap doors and 'dummy' caskets so that you don't really know which one has her body in it.