EVITA
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: The on-again, off-again history of
attempts to bring this Webber and Rice musical to
the screen finally culminates in a spectacular film
starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas and Jonathan
Pryce. By now the music is mostly familiar. The
politics are superficially explained, but the
visuals give the film a great epic feel. It is
hard to imagine Madonna will ever have as powerful
a role or be as good in another film. Rating: high
+2 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 4 positive, 4 negative, 3 mixed
Eva Peron was dead 26 years before the musical was produced, and it took nearly as long, 19 more years, for that musical to be filmed. It is not clear why the film should be made even now or why the people at Disney thought the American public would be interested in this story of the attractive, blond, and politically-active wife of a controversial reformer President who is popular among the poor but disliked by the rich, the military, and the Right Wing.
Like the play EVITA, the film opens in 1952 with the announcement of the death of Eva Peron. The film then tells in flashback the life story of Eva, supposedly related by Che (Antonio Banderas). Che is every bit as omnipresent here as he was in the musical, but in Alan Parker's film version he is no longer a research chemist developing an insecticide, he is now just sort of a one-man voice of public opinion. (This creates something of a problem with the lyrics of some of the songs. They have images of images of dying insects that now seem to come out of nowhere.) Eva is the illegitimate daughter of a prosperous middle class man. Her life is forged in bitterness by her father's other family refusing to acknowledge her existence or letting her attend her own father's funeral. Her being forcibly ejected from the church is the film's most powerful scene. At age fifteen, still filled with venom, she sleeps with popular singer visiting her village. Seeing this as an opportunity she attaches herself like a lamprey to the singer forcing him to take her to Buenos Aires. In spite of bad treatment, she works her way up a human ladder of men, trading her way up until she allies herself to the powerful and politically ambitious Colonel Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce). Juan unexpectedly finds himself caught between Eva on one side and the Army and the wealthy of Argentina on the other. It is a moot point which side has a greater loathing of the other. But "Little Eva" brings with her an overwhelming payload of political support from the Descamisados--the poor, "shirtless" workers and Juan rides their support to the Presidency--a very stormy trip.
Madonna Louise Ciccone has not had a very distinguished acting career up to this point but finally seems cast perfectly in a role. Madonna not only resembles Eva Person, both have notoriety for a somewhat salacious background. The biggest drawback to casting Madonna in the role is that she is 38--five years older than Eva Peron was even at her death--and the days are long past when Madonna could reasonably play the fifteen-year-old Eva. Antonio Banderas is transformed from chemist into a sort of narrator and Greek chorus and that causes some problems with his character. It is not clear what his point of view means or if it is even consistent. When Che was envisioned as a real human, he could change his mind about Eva without it being a story problem. But can a narrator or a chorus change his mind in the course of a story? It is not usually done. Ironically the Banderas character has far more lines than does the much more literal character of Pryce. Through much of the film Pryce has only to look good. I was surprised when Pryce speaks toward the middle of the film and I realized that we have not heard his voice in quite a while.
EVITA looks like a very expensive production and Parker has used his budget very cleverly in some cases to make a film that looks extremely extravagant. In some cases it appears he had a whole scene setup with a crowd on the screen only for the length of one line of a song. In fact there are some clever reuses of settings which may or may not be disguised to offset the cost. Part of the spectacle was made possible undoubtedly only because of the comparative low cost of filming in Argentina and Hungary. The two sets of scenes flow together seamlessly. We get to see some impressively-scaled political rallies or major street riots. Camerawork is by Darius Khondji who previously filmed DELICATESSEN, SE7EN, and the amazing CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. His camera is at its most impressive in the long-shots. Too often on the close-ups are plagued by bad synchronization between the singing and the lip movements. Some images go by often too quickly to be completely understood, including what looks like a sort of surrealistic ballroom dance on the occasion of the death of Eva. Webber's and Tim Rice's play gives us only a superficial view of Peronist politics, but then one does not expect an operetta to have the historical content of a GETTYSBURG. We never really see much of Eva Peron's politics beyond her allying herself to the Descamisados and avenging herself against the middle classes. Andrew Lloyd Webber apparently could not resist the opportunity to write one new song eligible for the Academy Award race. That song is "You Must Love Me," and it you want to hear it you must listen carefully. It is such a bland and lackluster piece of music it can slip right by the viewer unnoticed. It sounds more like a bridging piece of music than a song of the caliber of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina."
As a history film, EVITA is limited by the perfunctory musical script on which it is based, but the look of the film is dazzling. I rate the film a high +2 the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
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