Evita, cert. PG Produced by Alan Parker
A new nine-screen cinema has just opened in our town. From the large menu of films on offer we chose to see EVITA, the 1970s Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical now brought to the big screen and starring Madonna.
It very loosely tells the story of Maria Eva Peron (born Duarte). In the film she is born in some country place and follows a suave singer (Jimmy Nail, would you believe?) to the Buenos Aires. Actually she was born in Buenos Aires in 1919. Illegitimately born of the mistress of a well-to-do man, she is excluded from her father's funeral by his family, and thus the grudge against the middle classes becomes the motivation behind her life. The consummate opportunist, in the city she chooses a number of sleazy liaisons with men to climb a ladder leading eventually to a successful career as a radio actress.
In 1945 she met and married Juan Peron, a rising politician, amid the restless violence of the times in Argentina. After Peron became President, she virtually ran the government ministries of health and labour, and did a great deal of charitable work. The theme of the film is that this is all very much to fulfil her own lust for power and position, as all the time she is honing her image of glamour. In 1951 she stood for the post of vice-president, but was opposed by the Argentinian military and had to withdraw. All this is very confused in the film. She died soon afterwards of cancer at age 33.
