16.01.1997

Shallow affair

Dave Douglass reviews 'Evita', directed by Alan Parker

With the kind of rave reviews - Madonna in the lead role and even token Geordie superstar Jimmy Nail in support - the film, a musical spectacular no less, based on the life of Evita Peron, promised to be breathtaking. I have to say it was not.

I had gone to the cinema already decided to leave all my preconceived education on the massive significance of the Peronistas outside, and just watch the film. I had however expected a little more of politics rather than the confused hodge-podge we were given.

The best scenes, and the most dramatic, in terms of mixing music and imagery were the mass crowd scenes. Only during these brief punctuations were we given anything of the feel of the mass popularity and political centrality of the Peronist movement and therefore the reason for the almost sacred popularity of Evita and her husband. The rest of the film was mind-bendingly slow. I believe that it was meant to be intense and highly dramatic - it was not. I must confess that during Evita’s long drawn-out death process, I found myself saying, ‘For god’s sake die, you bastard, and let me get to the pub.’

My young companion, who specialises in Madonna rather than Peron, appreciated the story behind the film simply as a scramble to get out of the gutter and to the top - far more like the film star herself rather than the complex political character she portrays, although you can well see why she is an excellent choice for the part.

That she got well into the character can be demonstrated by the partial change of lifestyle. Not that she has taken to shouting the odds for the poor and oppressed of Central America, far less so to expropriating the rich - but she now has taken to wearing real fur again, as a direct result of Evita’s posthumous influence.

And who said she was shallow?

Dave Douglass