Evita

When I first saw Evita it was my senior year in high school that was back in 2001. My cinema teacher played the movie. When I found it had Madonna in it I was like oh great. I wasn't a fan then.It only took a few minutes before I was hooked on the movie. I love all the songs in the movie. There is not one bad song. It's rare I say this about a movie but this one in my opinion is perfect from the second it starts to the second it ends.As soon as I saw the movie I called my local mall and I was thrilled they had the double disc complete soundtrack.I think Madonna & Antonio Banderas were both amazing. Jonathan Pryce was great as Juan Peron. When I started researching the Perons after I saw the movie I was amazed how much Jonathan Pryce looks like the real Juan Peron. Jonathan Pryce was also close to the same age as Juan Peron. I can definitely see why he was picked to play Juan Peron.Madonna looks so much like Eva Peron it's in a way kind of eerie. I do agree with Madonna no one else could have played Eva Peron but her. I don't believe in reincarnation but if it did exist I would have to say Madonna is the reincarnation of Eva Peron. I also agree with Madonna when she said she was born to play Eva Peron.I did own the regular DVD years ago. I decided to buy the Blu Ray edition. I love this movie and I know it is one I will watch over and over. Even though it cost twice as much to get the Blu Ray I know I will get my money's worth out of it.My two favorite songs are Oh What A Circus and The Waltz For Eva And Che. One reason I love Oh What A Circus is Antonio Banderas sounded so passionate about the loss of Eva Peron. What I am about to say is a spoiler. If you haven't seen the movie you might not want to read this part.SpoilerWhen Che (Antonio Banderas) was saying to Eva's picture how Eva let down her people all they wanted was for her to be immortal and that wasn't much to ask for but in the end she couldn't deliver. Then Che calmly bends down and picks up a rock as he throws it at her picture you can see the look of anger he has towards her as he throws the rock it hits her picture causing the picture to fall and the picture to be destroyed. They used a picture of the real Eva Peron.To me that scene is an important and touching scene. We see how Eva's death affected Che. Che is a worker like Eva was. Unlike the other workers Che saw how his Savior changed from her humble beginnings to letting power go to her head. Midway through the movie Che tells Eva she only thinks about doing for herself and she has forgotten her people meaning the workers. Che hints to viewers how Eva was stealing some of the money from the Eva Peron Foundation. Che also didn't believe Eva's words during Don't Cry For Me Argentina. Half way through the song he starts shaking his head. He knows his Saint has started to change.I do think it was a nice tribute to the real Juan & Eva Peron to use their pictures throughout the movie instead of Madonna & Jonathan Pryce's pictures. They used very few pictures of Madonna as Eva Peron. I did like them using the real Peron's pictures. I think by doing that it made the movie more personal and touching. They used very few pictures of Jonathan Pryce as Juan Peron. When Eva & Juan are entering the ball there you can see just how much Jonathan Pryce looks like Juan Peron since Jonathan is wearing an outfit exactly like the real Juan Peron wore in the picture.SpoilerThere is some fiction to this movie. There are no records showing that Augustin Magaldi performed in Eva's home town when she was 15. Another fictional part is the brief reunion between Eva & Magaldi at the charity concert. The truth to that reunion is there wasn't one. It would literally have been 100% impossible for Augustin Magaldi to have performed at that charity concert because the real Augustin Magaldi died five years BEFORE the charity concert.I just saw today the making of special feature (June 1, 2015). I do completely agree when Madonna said she thinks she was sort of possessed by Eva Peron and that Madonna felt some electricity in the air while on the balcony where Eva once stood. Unless Eva possessed her I just can't see how Madonna can make the viewer believe she is Eva Peron while on Eva's balcony in the exact same spot where Eva would stand. From the videos I've seen of Eva giving her speeches on the same balcony Madonna's performance is very similar to Eva's.All I can say is give this movie a chance. It's a really amazing movie. I watched it with my mind set I would hate it. But I was wrong I love this movie. It's because of Evita I became a fan of Madonna's.I also coincidentally got the Blu Ray DVD of Evita today June 1, 2015 which is the birthday of Jonathan Pryce.If you have not seen Evita borrow it from a friend/relative/library or buy a copy. It is truly an amazing movie.Due to Evita I have been researching all I can on Eva & Juan Peron & Peronism. Once you see the movie you will more than likely want to learn more about them. History has never interested me. It never held my attention. But for some reason I want to know all I can about the mysterious Eva & Juan Peron & Peronism.The Blu Ray is much better than the regular DVD. The picture is still wide screen but the black bars are thinner. The image quality is really good compared to the regular DVD. The Blu Ray version has a making of feature it's around 40 minutes. It's definitely worth watching the making of. You get to see how much work it took to make this amazing movie.

Alan Parker's movie-musical EVITA, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice stage show of the same name, is an epic biopic of Eva Peron, setting to music her rise to fame, prominence, and eventual first-ladyship on the arm of Argentine president Juan Peron. A woman worshipped by many and despised by as many others, Madonna plays the title role. Antonio Banderas costars opposite her as Che, a fictional (and apparently invisible) everyman who appears throughout the film playing devil's advocate to many of Eva's achievements. Character actor and theatre veteran Jonathan Pryce portrays Juan Peron, the third principal player of EVITA.Arguably one of Lloyd Webber's finest shows, EVITA's greatest strength lies in its wealth of excellent songs, matched to scale by Alan Parker's steady directorial hand, crafting a film whose sheer elegance meets (and perhaps even exceeds) the high bar set by the original musical. Like JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, an earlier Rice/Lloyd Webber collaboration, EVITA contains very little spoken dialogue, it is in fact almost an opera. What little dialogue exists was cowritten by Alan Parker and Oliver Stone. The toe-tapping highlights include "Oh, What A Circus", "Buenos Aires", "Another Suitcase In Another Hall", "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You", "High Flying, Adored", and, of course, EVITA's iconic ballad "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina." Nabbing EVITA the 1997 Oscar for Best Original Song, "You Must Love Me", an additional tune cooked up by Rice and Lloyd Webber especially for the film, adds a tender emotional poignancy to the latter stages of Eva's saga.If you are reading this review and have not seen the film, your primary concerns might revolve around Madonna as Eva Peron. How could a pop star, though not often an actress, fare in such a high-profile leading role? Forgive the (totally intended) EVITA-related pun, but...she's suprisingly good. Along with a solid performance in all other respects, Madonna's vocals convey well the many sides of Eva Peron's makeup: the fragility, pain, and lingering resentments from her youth, her drive and passion to help Argentina's working classes, as well as her eyes-on-the-prize iciness and savvy skill at manipulating both herself and others in the course of her ultimate ambition. Toward the end of the film, with terminal cancer setting in and Evita's demise imminent, Madonna's performance stirred me almost to tears. Crucify me now, but I believe Madonna proves herself a better Evita than Patti LuPone. I, for one, don't miss LuPone's overtly brash, annoyingly Americanized performance. I was always partial to Elaine Page's Eva Peron in the original West End production, and I feel Madonna is more in line with my preferred take on the first lady.Antonio Banderas, though lesser vocalist compared to Madonna, still holds his own as a singer and delivers an overall excellent performance as Che. Both David Essex (Original West End) and Mandy Patinkin (Original Broadway) were superior in the role, but Banderas' presence does add some appreciated Hispanic representation to one of the key parts. Jonathan Pryce also provides a intriguingly ambiguous turn for what he is given. Despite it, however, Juan Peron remains nothing more than a supporting part; the primary gravity of the story stays where it should be, the conflict between Eva and Che. Though Pryce is briefly allowed to shine on his own in "She Is A Diamond."I wholly recommend EVITA, a grand piece of entertainment in almost every regard, even for its handful of flaws. The most notable foible is the loss of some of the original musical's bite, with a fair few of Tim Rice's more provocative lyrics (the ones deemed too critical or unflattering toward Eva Peron) either toned down or removed completely in the translation from stage to screen. While still not afraid to lift the curtain on Eva's negative qualities, the film will seem noticeably neutered to any fans of, say, the original Broadway production and its accompanying cast recording. Viewers who do not count themselves among the purists will most likely not be bothered by the changes, for the musical's essence, and the political angle of its two creators, remains largely intact. These revisions were probably made as part of a deal allowing Alan Parker, his cast, and the crew into Argentina in pursuit of authentic locales. This seems to me a fair trade off, especially for their ability to shoot the crucial scene of Eva addressing scores of her followers from the balcony of the actual Casa Rosada. Another significant change which benefits the film version: the reeinstatement of "The Lady's Got Potential" and the reduction of the show's weakest link, "The Art Of The Possible", to little more than a passing mention. The song is not missed at all, to be quite honest.To sum it all up, EVITA is a beautiful production, well worth the time of anyone who enjoys a great musical, and even more, a great story!

The video arrived on time and was in excellent shape

Good to watch