Evita 1996

     This film is an adaptation of a hit Broadway musical showing the story of Eva Duarte de Peron.  She was the wife of President Juan Peron of Argentina.  She became the most famous Argentine woman in history despite being born into poverty.  She had a huge political influence and she did constant works of charity.  She was scorned and feared by the military and the upper classes.  She had adoration and love from the workers and common people.  She was the most hated and the most loved woman in Argentina.

     I didn't know this was a musical but I thought it was very good.  After viewing, I wanted to know more about the government and Eva.  The government of Juan Peron was a fascist dictatorship.  Argentina and a lot of the other South American countries gave safe haven to the Nazi men who escaped there instead of facing punishment for their crimes after WWII.  Eva was considered illegitimate and she made "corrections" to her birth certificate.  In was common in this time period for wealthy men to have more than one family.  She also had a change made in the government to state that children born out of wedlock and to a different family were not considered illegitimate.

   

135 min, Bio directed by Alan Parker with Madonna, Jonathan Pryce, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, Jimmy Nail, Victoria Sus, Julian Littman, Olga Merediz, Laura Pallas, Julia Worsley, Maria Lujan Hildago, Servando Villamil, Andrea Corr.

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10, 62% critic 68% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon  4.4* out of 5* with 671 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Budapest, Hungary; Argentina, Spain, England, UK.  Prior to filming, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan Zsa Zsa Gabor, Barbra Streisand, Patti LuPone, Derin Altay, Karla DeVito, Bette Midler, Michelle Pfeiffer and Sarah Brightman were in consideration for the role of Eva Peron.  The vocals for the scene where Peron tells Eva that she is dying had to be recorded live on the set.  Madonna and Jonathan Pryce kept breaking down in tears and couldn’t keep in sync with the prerecorded tracks.  Madonna changed costumes 85 times.  She wore 39 hats, 45 pair of shoes and 56 pairs of earrings.  She was an entry in Guinness World Record for 1996.