Evita<\/em>, the breakout Broadway show for Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, was always sold based on its leading lady. The original West End production mounted an aggressive hunt for a new leading lady to play the part of Eva Per\u00f3n, wife of Argentinian politician Juan Per\u00f3n. The Broadway version turned Patti Lupone into one of American theater\u2019s grandest divas. When it came time to make the film, directed by Alan Parker, it seemed that every major actress in Hollywood was clamoring for the role. Meryl Streep came close to claiming it. But it was Madonna who cinched it. Parker insisted that if Madonna was to be his Eva, she must understand<\/a> that the film was “not a glorified Madonna video.” Yet the film undeniably bends backwards to accommodate the grandeur of its megastar leading lady, for better or worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alan Parker\u2019s Evita<\/em> is a very odd film. It\u2019s largely faithful to the stage show (but gives one of the best numbers to Madonna rather than its intended singer) and it\u2019s often gorgeous to look at. The sheer scale of it is impressive, such as in the \u201cDon\u2019t Cry for Me Argentina\u201d number where Madonna serenades 4,000 extras. It\u2019s also politically a mess, with Parker\u2019s camera being so enamored with the spectacle that any sense of the show’s (admittedly wonky) themes of class struggle are left drowning in it. This is a show that shouldn\u2019t be rooted in realism but rather pure Brechtian artifice. Both Ken Russell and Oliver Stone were originally attached to the project, and you can imagine their versions being both more suitably frenetic and politically scathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madonna is so unignorably a star that it overwhelms much of the story\u2019s frequent disdain for Per\u00f3n, who is positioned as a talentless social climber with friends in all the right places. This works best when Madonna gets to wield that charisma like a knife, the perfect politician\u2019s wife who knows when to smile for what camera, but it\u2019s less effective when the camera is so keen to bask in the magic of the queen of pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can\u2019t fault Evita<\/em> for yielding to her might, though. This is by far and away Madonna\u2019s best cinematic performance. Her natural charisma helps, as does the fact that the score was altered to suit her voice, but she\u2019s also great at conveying that barely concealed sense of contempt that Per\u00f3n has for most of the people around her, including those she\u2019s meant to be helping. When Eva\u2019s husband tells her she\u2019s dying of cancer, Madonna is truly heart-wrenching in her reaction to the news that she\u2019s not long for this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parker may not have wanted to make a Madonna music video but it remains one, and that meta parallel between two women with radical cults of personality is what helps to lift it beyond erratic source material and a misguided aesthetic. Having someone who can’t hit the high notes but is still too compelling to ignore play a dictator’s hyper-ambitious wife is extremely on-the-nose, but Madonna seems to be the only person in the film who knows what she’s meant to be doing. The best scenes are when she gets to sing numbers that already sound like Madonna songs, such as \u201cI\u2019d Be Surprisingly Good for You\u201d, wherein she seduces Juan with an offer of a mutually beneficial romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evita<\/em> hasn\u2019t lingered long in people\u2019s imaginations, but it was a box office success that gave Madonna the movie stardom she\u2019d fought for. She won a Golden Globe and came close to an Oscar nomination. But she didn\u2019t make many films after that (and they all suck). Perhaps there simply weren\u2019t enough juicy roles out there that were best suited to a grand dame who needed the industry to accommodate her rather than the other way round. Madonna\u2019s never stopped being a performer, as the ensuing 28 years of her music career can attest to. Through genre changes, new eras, and the increasing scourge of misogyny and ageism, she\u2019s never ceded the spotlight for a second. If the camera won\u2019t focus on her, she\u2019ll just find a different stage. And isn\u2019t that exactly what we want from Madonna? It\u2019s that or another Swept Away<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Evita” is streaming on Hoopla<\/a> and is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/evita2-1024x680.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n