'Evita'

THE DE TR O I T J E WISH N EWS

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Top: Madonna and Jonathan Pryce as
Eva and Juan Peron.

Right: Madonna as Eva Peron.
is almost impossible not to read
Madonna's autobiography in the
Bottom: Alan Parker directs Antonio
overblown Evita, the epochal
Banderas as Che in Evita.
movie musical she hopes will fi-
nally transform her from a fading
side of the tracks: As crowds cheer
pop icon into a serious actress. Like
Juan Peron or call for her beneath
Eva Peron, the First Lady of Ar-
her balcony at the Casa Rosada in
gentina from 1945 to her untime-
Buenos Aires, Madonna as Eva
ly death in 1952, Madonna cast off
endearingly buries her head in her
the yoke of her working-class be-
husband's chest. Despite the adu-
ginnings, headed to the big city,
lation she attracts, we see some-
remade herself again and again,
thing in her that cannot believe in
and laughed all the way to the
her good fortune. And when she
bank. In real life, Madonna even
sports the same lacquered blonde feels the scorn of the ruling class,
mane as Ms. Peron, who is por- which spends its days hosting
charitable tea parties, she starts
trayed in the movie as a
her own charity with a
master manipulator with
vengeance. Her brand of
vague politics, a passion
MOVIES
giving consists of throwing
for high fashion, and an
money into the crowd, -
inflated sense of her own
handing out bottles of wine and
worth. Like the woman who plays
loaves of bread, building hospitals
her, Ms. Peron remakes herself
into an ambassadress of the peo-
ple, serving up a splendid image
that apparently still sustains the
spirit of the Argentinian people.
That said, Madonna delivers a
supple performance in Alan Park-
er and Oliver Stone's adaptation
of the Broadway play Evita. She
alternates between coquette and
savior of the people, trilling all the
way through in a voice well-suit-
ed to a haven't-we-heard-this-be-
fore? Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd
Webber score. Yet, she also con-
veys the slight uncertainty and
shyness of the girl from the other

Julie Edgar is senior writer at

The Jewish News.

PHOTO BY DAVID APPLEBY

Rated PG

he loves her and also hates her,
too.
Jonathan Pryce as Juan Per-
on is understated as the reptilian
politician who recognizes imme-
diately what Eva can do for him
and eventually becomes addicted
to the adoration that follows her.
Like all the characters in this
kitschy historical drama, howev-
er, we never get beyond his macho
persona. We learn only, in flash-
backs, that as a girl, Eva, her
mother and sisters were thrown
out of her father's funeral by his
legitimate wife.
When Eva eventually falls ill,
we never learn what she is diag-
nosed with. My movie companion
informed me it was cancer, but fig-
ured the lyricist couldn't find an
appropriate rhyme for it, so left it
out. I'll buy that; lots of other de-
tails are. Evita leaves a lot to the
imagination.

PHOTO BY BILL KAYE

rr- , and schools. The ear-to-ear grin
Et - she sports is the triumphant defi-
> ance of that poor girl who will nev-
er be accepted by the moneyed or
the military, which resents her po-
litical popularity. At this point in
'Evita, it's difficult not to question
the wisdom of the Argentine peo-
ple, who seem to love Eva through
their misery. We learn not from
the movie but from the director's
notes that her efforts were bank-
rupting the country.
Aside from speaking before the
Peronist Women's Party, which
she formed in 1947 to campaign
for women's suffrage, Eva seems
to do little but model very nice cos-
tumes and raise her fist in a ges-
ture of solidarity.
Before uterine cancer strikes
her down at the age of 33, Madon-
na's Eva still manages to croak out
a poignant version of "Don't Cry
for Me, Argentina," a song that has

been sung again and again
throughout the film and provides
its ironic undertone.
That, and Antonio Banderas as
Che, the ever-present narrator
who shows up in every crowd
scene to provide commentary and
much-needed wit. Che is meant to
expose Eva's true intentions and
the people's naive willingness to
embrace her as a saint, even after
her husband has violently put
down labor protests against his
government.
Banderas is quite good in the
role of Che, which requires a lot of
singing. Aside from a solid voice,
he conveys a mixture of hurt and
disdain for Eva; we get the sense

VV

— Julie Edgar

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