Why Isn't This On Blu-ray yet?
To say that Andrew Lloyd Webber reinvented the Broadway musical is perhaps an overstatement. But there is no denying Sir Andrew's titanic impact on the latter half of Broadway's history. Webber's innate gift for meticulous showmanship and being able to write instantly recognizable pop scores with Tim Rice is undisputed. He is the master craftsman of his media.
But turning the rather sordid life of Eva Peron into a spectacle with songs was not a prospect immediately embraced. Indeed, producer Robert Stigwood had hoped to entice the collaborative team of Webber and Rice to write a new musical version of Peter Pan. That project was abandoned. But it was almost immediately replaced by an idea that Webber had after hearing a radio dramatization of Eva Peron's life on the BBC.
Beginning as a 'concept album' in 1972, Evita hit the London stage four years later and became one of the most celebrated live theatre events of its generation. Unhappy chance and timing for Webber and Rice that Hollywood had turned their backs on the big splashy movie musicals. Or perhaps timing was simply fortuitous.
For in the interim between the Broadway zeitgeist and the film by Alan Parker pop singer Madonna had risen from virtual unknown to one of the most recognizable celebrities in the music world. That Madonna's reputation for salaciousness preceded her arrival in Argentina created its own tawdry bit of scandal when the Argentine people came out en masse to protest her involvement in the film. Eva Peron was and largely remains their crown princess - no less a deity than Princess Grace of Monaco. But no one could have done the role more justice.
Screen heartthrob Antonio Bandaras was cast in the pivotal role as Che - a sort of Greek chorus who bookends both the play and the film and frequently intrudes on Eva's otherwise deliberate attempts to social climb her way into the Presidential palace. Initially Andrew Lloyd Webber had no intension of emulating real life guerrilla leader Che Guevara as his male chorine. But when producer Harold Smith Price became associated with the stage project he insisted on Guevara as their template. As portrayed by Bandaras, the film's Che is more ambiguously detailed.
The screenplay by Parker and Oliver Stone sticks close to the structure of the stage show, perhaps because it is a near perfectly realized bit of stagecraft. The narrative is one giant flashback. Che opens the program with 'Oh What A Circus, What A Show' - a garishly celebratory song at Eva Peron's funeral. The people's outcry and sadness is expressed in a day of very public mourning. But the mood turns ugly as Che takes us back to Eva's formative years. These have been spent milling from one brothel to the next (song: Another Suitcase in Another Hall), the fresh faced teenage Peron a prostitute for middle aged clientele.
But Eva has her sights set on bigger and better things. She quickly exploits her connections (song: Goodnight and Thank You Whoever) to land a job on the radio where she becomes a popular personality - enough to warrant a 'chance' meeting with Presidential candidate Juan Peron (Jonathan Price). Advised against pursuing a relationship with the former prostitute (song: Peron's Latest Flame), Peron is nevertheless smitten with Eva. Or perhaps he simply sees how her current star power on the radio can help influence his political ambitions by reaching a much larger audience over the air waves.
The play and the film make no apologies for both Eva and Peron using each other to get what they want. But when push comes to shove Eva orchestrates a romance that leads to marriage. The uppity upper class are not amused. They shun the first lady. But the impoverished masses embrace her with overwhelming affection. Eva uses that love to spread the good word of her husband's regime. For the people, Eva Peron represents the promise and the hope of a new Argentina where anything is possible.
Peron agrees. He allows his wife unprecedented leeway to reach out to the masses and Eva, realizing how much clout she has for the first time in her life, decides to use it to her benefit. She establishes a foundation that embraces public education and procures funds to better the lives of the impoverished by bringing clean water and electricity to the villages. But this transformation comes at a considerable cost - both monetary and physical.
Juan Peron's publicists decides to send Eva on a European program (song: The Rainbow Tour) to promote Argentina and Juan outside their country. The tour begins strong, but sours after the Pope only offers Eva a polite dispensation. Valiantly, Eva trudges on. But increasingly she begins to look pale and becomes weak - collapsing during a church mass.
Rushed to hospital - the news is devastating. Eva has terminal uterine cancer. Undergoing surgery Eva is told there is no hope of survival. She retires to the Presidential palace with Juan at her side (song: You Must Love Me) and quietly succumbs to her illness. The magic that was their reign together is at an end.
Like the stage show, the filmic version of Evita is not a musical in the conventional sense but a rock opera. There is a considerable difference. Very little is said that is not sung and accompanied by a full orchestra. But Madonna does Eva Peron proud. In fact, she is shockingly good, looking, acting and singing the hell out of the part.
The score pulls its scathing punches. It is a seething cesspool of powerhouse song and dance. 'You Must Love Me’ was written expressly for Madonna and it is saying much that although nearly 30 year have passed between the stage and film versions, the song itself seems as timeless as the rest of the music.
Upon its release Evita, though successful at the box office, was largely overlooked by the critics. Certainly, and tragically, it was ignored by AMPAS who did not even nominate the film for a single Oscar – an unforgiveable travesty since there is much to recommend Evita as one of the best movie musicals of the latter 20th century.
WHY ISN'T THIS ON BLU-RAY YET?!?
Unfortunately, Buena Vista Home Video has been equally remiss in doing right by this catalogue title. Their DVD incarnation is a bare bones non-anamorphic transfer. Aliasing, shimmering and edge enhancement plague this presentation throughout. Colors are muddy. The overall image is dark without much fine detail. Film grain never looks natural and occasionally is very digital in appearance. The 5.1 audio is explosive, giving a fairly good representation of the score - although no doubt this is one movie that would definitely benefit from a brand new DTS remastering. There are no extras. For shame!!!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
2
EXTRAS
0
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