Evita
with Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce
Based on the play by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Screenplay by Alan Parker and Oliver Stone
Directed by Alan Parker
by Lex Marburger
Even if you’re not a fan of Madonna (and I am), you have to be impressed with Evita, if for no other reason than Andrew Lloyd Webber actually came up with a score that involves more than two songs. Even though he still abuses the concept of leit motiv, the score has some fascinating melodies and verges at times into atonality (no, she’s not singing off key, it was written that way). Some scenes, such as the opening one, are still tinged with the era that Webber wrote, leaning towards that Theatre-rock sound that made Jesus Christ Superstar at times ingratiating and annoying. The arrangement superbly covers up the smarminess of Andy Lloyd, and the actors bring to life the subject of the songs, be it human rights or sleeping your way to the top.
Several newspapers contend that the story of Eva Peron is desecrated by Madonna’s portrayal of a young rural girl escalating her social status through sex. But this, no matter how much it may or may not mirror her own life, is not Madonna’s fault. It’s like saying the actor who played Rumple Teaser desecrates T.S. Eliot through his singing and actions. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Tim Rice’s and Alan Parker’s for their choreography and the words they put in her mouth, not to mention the fact that Oliver Stone had a hand in the screenplay. No matter how dramatic the actual events, Evita is, like all historical adaptations, bound to use creative license in search of a better story (case in point: any staging of The Diary of Anne Frank).
Madonna’s only flaw (other than not being able to play a (mostly) virginal 15 year old) is that she’s been on stage too much. In front of an audience of thousands, you need to have big movements, to overact, make huge gesticulations. On camera, however, it looks forced and slightly silly. This can be forgiven, because the whole premise of this musical (and any musical), is one of grandiosity, of dramatizing an epic story, and Peron’s overemphizised body movement, next to Jonathan Pryce’s perfectly understated subtlety, draws attention to her every gesture, creating a larger-than-life persona. Madonna is wonderful, a natural for the role (choose your own reason why – a) she is loved in much the way Peron was, or b) she’s a cold, clinical backstabber who uses her body to get ahead).
But now, the most surprising element in Evita: Antonio Banderas is amazing! Who knew he could sing? As Ché, Eva’s ubiquitous counterpart, he mirrors her rise to power, showing up as bellboy, waiter, janitor, revolutionary. His ultra-slick veneer is graceful and, well, sexy as ever, as he wryly wields the needle that bursts Eva’s bubble, showing the audience that the Rose of Argentina is not all she’s cracked up to be. The script needed someone adaptable, smooth, suave if you will, to portray the hope, desire, and tragedy of a nation with a few well placed lines. Banderas delivers, and makes Evita a dazzling film.
