Evita (5 Stars)

I'm continuing my top 100 films with "Evita", which is currently in 45th place. It's a film that hits me hard emotionally every time I watch it. The story is framed between the two funerals, of Eva Peron's father and Eva herself. This gives the film a gloomy nature, even if there are happy moments.

Eva genuinely loved Juan Peron. I don't doubt that. He wasn't like the many men she'd had before. She was attracted to him because he loved Argentina. They both loved Argentina. Was their love for Argentina genuine? That's a difficult question to answer. They wanted to do good for the country, but they were corrupted by wealth and power. In her early years Eva spoke out against the middle and upper classes, but as the president's wife she adorned herself with diamonds and opulent clothing. She said it was what the people wanted to see, but this was a poor excuse. It's what Eva wanted to see in the mirror.

Juan Peron comes off lightly in the film. Apart from his suppression of the press, we don't see him acting badly. It's mentioned twice that he modelled himself on Mussolini, but we don't see much of this in the film. "Evita" is a film about Eva Peron; if we want to know about Juan Peron we have to read the history books.

I wouldn't say that I feel attracted to Eva Peron or the way Madonna portrays her. There's too much in her life that's negative. She slept her way to the top, and once she was at the peak she pretended to be a saint. The film shows her collapsing when taking communion in church, as if God is striking her down.

What I'm attracted to is the film's atmosphere and its dramatic backdrops. 40,000 extras were used, which isn't a record, but it was probably the last ever film that was made with thousands of extras. Nowadays computer software creates large crowd scenes for a much lower price.

Success Rate:  + 0.6

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Evita (5 Stars)

"Evita" is a film that I watch again and again. There's a diminishing return: the more often I watch it, the less I'll be able to write in my new reviews without repeating myself.

The more I watch "Evita", the more fascinated I become with the unnamed character played by Antonio Banderas. In the credits he's listed as Ché, but I call him unnamed because he isn't given a name in the film itself. He's an abstract Voice of the People. He's an incorporation of the unbiased thinking man. He's not anti-Evita, but he's not pro-Evita either. He judges her positively or negatively from case to case, depending on what she's doing.

I can relate to that. I like to think of myself in the same way. So many people, including my friends, blindly follow one school of thought or another. They see the world in terms of black and white. The best example is the 2016 Brexit referendum. Some of my friends wanted to leave the EU as if it were the only logical step to take, while others were just as extreme in seeing remaining in the EU as the only sensible decision. The country was divided into Brexiteers and Remainers. I was one of the few people who weighed up both alternatives impartially. When I finally decided to vote to remain in the EU it was because of many hours spent weighing the pros and cons. Was my decision right? I can't say whether I was right or wrong, but it was the best decision I could make based on the limited amount of information offered to me.

The months leading up to the referendum and the following years until Brexit took place were an ugly time. People were insulting one another. The ones who were the most guilty were the Remainers. Unable to discuss with the Brexiteers, they resorted to polemics. They called the Brexiteers racists or stupid. This didn't do anything to persuade the Brexiteers, it hardened them in their beliefs.

It's now six years since the referendum and two years since the accomplishment of Brexit. The subject still hasn't died on the Remainer side. They're still in a state of shock that they lost the vote. Whenever something negative happens they're fast to shout "I told you so". When something positive happens they remain quiet. What they don't understand is that it wasn't the Brexiteers who took Britain out of the EU, it was the British people. It was a close vote, 52% to 48%, but that's the way democracy works; the majority decides, even if it's by the slightest of margins. We, the British people, decided to leave the EU, and now we have to live with the consequences. It's irrelevant that I voted with the minority. As soon as the results were announced in June 2016 the discussions were over, as far as I was concerned. I'm not an anarchist who shouts "Not my President", or equivalent statements. The people decide, and I'm one of the people. In the case of an unwanted president (or prime minister) there will be another chance for the people to vote differently. In the case of Brexit, the EU feels burnt and will probably never accept another membership bid, whatever the British population votes.

I'm the Vox Populi, the Voice of the People. That's my position, and I'm proud of it. By taking a middle position I'll make enemies on both sides. That won't stop me standing up for the truth as I see it. I emphasise the words "as I see it". I'm not infallible. I may be wrong, but I'll still stand by my opinions until someone proves me wrong with logical arguments.

Success Rate:  + 0.6

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Evita (5 Stars)

True Stories #21

Name: Eva Peron

Lived: 7 June 1919 – 26 July 1952

Film dates: 1926 to 1952 (death), mostly 1936 to 1952

Film made in 1996

"Evita" is a film that overwhelms me every time I watch it. It does everything right: the music, the emotions, the grand events. Was this the last film to be made with a cast of thousands? 40,000 extras may not be a record, but it's a lot. Modern films use CGI when large crowds are needed. It saves money, but it doesn't look as realistic. "Evita" begins with a large scene, and the effect is breathtaking.

The film is a true rags to riches story. Eva Duarte grew up in a poor family, but after moving to Buenos Aires in 1934 she rapidly climbed the ladder of success. She worked first as a model, then a radio host, then a film star, before she finally met Juan Person, the future President of Argentina. Rather than being a passive first lady, hiding behind her husband, she campaigned for workers' rights and women's rights. This made her popular with the people, or at least the lower classes. The upper classes in Argentina resented her for being an actress, which was an unfavourable career at the time.

The leading male character isn't Juan Peron, it's an unnamed man played by Antonio Banderas. The credits list him as Ché, suggesting that he represents the Argentinian rebel Ché Guevara. When "Evita" was performed on stage, Ché wore army fatigues, further suggesting a connection with Ché Guevara, but Alan Parker chose not to do this; in my opinion correctly. He appears in each scene in different clothing, fitting in with his position. Effectively, he's a different person each time he appears. He's a critical observer among the people. When everyone else is praising Evita, as Eva Peron was known, he points out her failings. He's the voice of reason.

The film is remarkably accurate, considering that it's only a musical. It doesn't tell the complete history of Juan and Eva Peron, but what it does tell is correct. A few years ago I checked for myself. Many characters are shown briefly, less than 30 seconds of screen time each, without being named. The film's credits name them, and you can look them up on Wikipedia.

As an incomplete history, the film isn't the best place to learn about Eva Peron. There are books that will give you many more details. "Evita" the film is meant to entertain, and it's a majestic success.

Success Rate:  + 0.6

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Evita (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #51

This is a film that ticks all the boxes to make it a film that I like.

• It's a musical.
• It's a true story.
• It has a cast of thousands.

There are certainly many other things in the film's favour, but these are three factors that bias me in its favour. According to Wikipedia, 40,000 extras were used. That's not a world record – "Ghandi" had 200,000 extras – but it's still an impressive number.

Does the brilliance come from the musical score or the film director? I'd say both. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote an amazing musical, initially only intended for vinyl release. Alan Parker, who had already directed three other musicals, did an amazing job bringing it to film. Can it be faulted? I think not. It's a perfect musical that stands head and shoulders above all other musicals.

The three main actors are ideal for the role. Madonna is the tragic woman from a poor family who rises to become a president's wife. Antonio Banderas is the Vox Populi, unnamed in the film itself, who critically watches her rise to fame. Jonathan Pryce is the stoic, silent president who shows his affection only through small gestures.

The film doesn't give a history lesson. Much is left out, particularly concerning President Peron himself, but whatever's included is correct. The amount of research that must have gone into the original musical is phenomenal.

Earlier today I wrote a post about mistakes. I omitted a category. I'm sure that there are many mistakes in my top 100 film list. I finalised the list before I started my countdown in January, but as I climb up the list I'm regretting placing some films too low. This is one of them. It's too difficult to decide between films when my choices are so subjective. If I watch a horror film and a comedy, how can I say which is better? There's no comparison. It depends on my mood. I shan't do another countdown after this one, but maybe I'll have a rolling top 100 that I'll continuously update. Let's see.

Success Rate:  + 0.6

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

As promised in a recent post, I've now daisy-chained my top 100 film posts to assist those who want to read all my reviews. If you click on the header at the top of this post you'll skip to the next film, and from there to the film after it, etc.

The Man who killed Don Quixote (3 Stars)

When he was at film school the young director Toby shot a film with amateur actors about Don Quixote. Ten years later he's making commercials. That's not the career he expected. His latest commercial, being filmed in Spain with the backing of a Russian vodka company, needs someone to play the part of Don Quixote, so he looks up the actor who played Don Quixote in his student film, the shoemaker Javier. Times have changed. Javier is now demented and thinks he really is Don Quixote. He thinks Toby is his squire and demands that they ride out on adventures together.

As Toby accompanies Javier he doesn't realise that he's being drawn into Javier's madness.

With Terry Gilliam as director and screenwriter I expected a comedy, but the film is more of a tragedy. That's not bad in itself. What disappointed me about the film is that it wasn't always clear what was happening. Portions of the film seemed to be taking place in the 17th Century. Some scenes were called dreams. Others were play-acting by Javier's friends. Others were the filming of the advertisement. Added to this, we see the film through the eyes of Toby as he slowly slips into madness. It's possible that I didn't interpret all the scenes correctly, and I shan't properly understand them until I see the film again. But I don't want to watch it again. It didn't excite me enough.

Evita (5 Stars)

Some films are so good that they're worth watching many times. Sometimes I think that I should give up watching new films and only spend time re-watching my old favourites. I most commonly think this after watching a few disappointing films in a row.

"Evita" is a film worth watching again and again. I forget how often I've seen it. I know I've watched it three times since I started my blog in September 2010, but I can't remember how often I watched it before then. I wish I'd started my blog sooner. Summer 2003 would have been a good opportunity, when I bought my first DVD player. From what I've read, Blogger (Blogspot) was first available in 1999, owned by Pyra Labs. Google bought Pyra in 2003 and began to update the service. Since 2006 it's looked like it does now, although I can't compare it because I have no idea what it looked like before then.

As I've mentioned before, "Evita" only missed being included in my "30 films to watch before you die" by an Argentinian's whiskers. If the list had included 31 films it would have been included. Let's hope that it will make it into my 50 favourite films list, which I intend to publish next year. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. It faces tough competition from at least 20 foreign films which weren't eligible for my first list.

Before watching the film today I read Wikipedia's pages about Eva Peron and her husband Juan. This convinced me that the film is an accurate depiction of her life. It's not a detailed depiction. Often events are only referenced in a single line of song or in a fleeting picture, but whatever is shown is correct. I have to praise the lyricist Time Rice and the director Alan Parker for their attention to detail. The film is a masterpiece on so many different levels.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Evita (5 Stars)

When I compiled my list of 30 films to watch before you die I had to make some hard choices. I had to omit a lot of my favourite films. The first list I wrote had about 90 films in it. Every single film I removed hurt me, and each cut hurt more than the one before. In my process of elimination "Evita" plays a special role. It was the last film I removed from my list. If I added one more film "Evita" would be the 31st film. After watching it again today I had to ask myself if I made the right choice. It really should have been in my list, but if I wanted to put it back what would I remove? I have to save myself headaches and treat my 30 film list as final.

Watching the film once more today I was totally overwhelmed. I found myself crying within the first 10 minutes, and my eyes moistened again in scenes throughout the film, especially near the end.

Today I felt I could relate to the character of Antonio Banderas as the unnamed man in the crowd, the Vox Populi. That's who I am. I watch the leaders as they act. Sometimes I praise them. Sometimes I criticise them. Sometimes I criticise the people around me for wrongly judging the leaders, in my eyes. Is my opinion right? There isn't really a right or wrong, it's just an opinion, and my opinion might not even be based on accurate facts.

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

Tomorrow Never Dies (4½ Stars)

"Tomorrow never dies" is the 18th James Bond film, made in 1997. It's the second film to star Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. I was particularly excited when it was made because it starred Michelle Yeoh as the film's Bond girl, Wai Lin. Actually there are two Bond girls. In the photo above Teri Hatcher is shown on the left as Paris Carver, while Michelle Yeoh is shown on the right. There are frequently two good Bond girls, of whom one is killed early in the film. That's Paris Carver in "Tomorrow never dies". Wai Lin is the girl who survives to the end so that the film can close with her lying in Bond's arms.

So what's so exciting about Michelle Yeoh? From the first time I heard she would appear I knew she would be different to all the Bond girls before her. The Bond girls are eye candy for the viewer and sex toys for James Bond. Their sole purpose is to act as damsels in distress for the mighty hero to save, so that they can jump into his arms and his bed. That's not Michelle Yeoh. Ever since her early films, such as "Magnificent Warriors" and "The Heroic Trio", she was an action hero. It was expected that as a Bond girl she would be a martial artist on a par with Bond himself. This was the case. In the film it isn't just about James Bond saving her; they fight side by side and take turns saving one another.

In "Tomorrow Never Dies" there's a power-mad villain, as always, but in this film he isn't attempting to conquer the world. The villain is only the head of an international news corporation. He wants his newspapers to be the most read and his television stations to be the most watched, so he resorts to underhand tricks. He creates an international incident between China and Britain, threatening to make the two countries go to war. He does this so that he can be the first one to report the news. Step by step he causes the situation to escalate, always standing on the front line with his news report planned before the events have even occurred.

This is where Wai Lin fits in. The British secret service sends James Bond to investigate, and the Chinese secret service sends Wai Lin. The two agents each want to protect their own countries, but to do this they have to unite against their common enemy.

The public loved Michelle Yeoh. They were tired of James Bond's sexist attitudes and wanted a woman who could stand up to him. After the film there was talk of Michelle returning, making her the first Bond girl to return in a second film. I had mixed feelings. about it. On the one hand Michelle Yeoh was a fantastic actress that I wanted to see again. On the other hand, one of the key elements of the Bond formula was the appearance of a new girl in every film, showing that he had no interest in romance. As it was, the film studio decided not to bring her back. The next film returned to the usual damsel in distress girl. Almost. The next girl was actually a highly intelligent and independent scientist, but that's a topic for my next review.

The Salvation (4 Stars)

A Danish western? Is there such a thing? I don't know if any westerns have been made in Denmark before this, but if not "The Salvation" is a worthy film to kickstart the genre. It's slow and intense, coiled like a rattlesnake, before erupting into scenes of savage violence.

After Denmark lost a war to Germany (actually a coalition of Austria and Prussia) in 1864 the disillusioned Danish soldier Jon emigrates to America. After seven years of living alone, establishing a small homestead, Jon invites his wife and son to join him. They are both fridged on the stagecoach journey from the train station to Black Creek, the town nearest to Jon's homestead. After his wife is raped by two drunken cowboys they are murdered and thrown onto the road. Jon catches up with the stagecoach and takes revenge by shooting the men.

One of the men that Jon shoots is the brother of the gangster Delarue who demands protection money from the leaders of Black Creek. It's a strange little town. The town's undertaker is the mayor, and the town's priest is the sheriff. They're all terrified of Delarue and accept his demands. In retaliation for the death of his brother Delarue executes three of the townspeople and doubles the protection money until the killer is found.

Mads Mikkelsen is dark and broody in all of his films, so he was the ideal choice to play the lead role. I wouldn't say he's a good actor, he's very one-sided in his roles, but he's good at what he does. Also notable are Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Delarue, Jonathan Pryce as the undertaker and Eva Green as the mute wife of Delarue's brother. The film reproduces the style and atmosphere of spaghetti westerns without actually being a spaghetti western.

P. S. No, I don't know what the film's title has to do with the film.

Evita (5 Stars)

This is a film that overwhelms me whenever I watch it. The powerful imagery and the emotional depth combine with the musical score to create an unforgettable experience. Madonna is so perfect in the title role that it's difficult to believe she was only chosen after a series of other actresses, including Michelle Pfeiffer and Meryl Streep, had turned the role down. This was the film that established Madonna as an actress after a string of poor quality flops. Or maybe it wasn't her acting abilities that helped her; as a singing performer she excels, which made her the ideal person for this role. When I first saw the film I was pleasantly surprised that Antonio Banderas was such a skilled singer. Jonathan Pryce's voice is average, but sufficient for the small number of lines he has to sing.

The film is based on a musical written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber in 1976. It follows the path of Eva Duarte (played by Madonna), a poor girl who slept her way to the top in Argentina in the first half of the 20th Century. The film shows her repeatedly swapping lovers to get herself roles in films, but no judgement is passed. She was a poor girl in a poor country doing what was necessary to succeed. She reached the pinnacle when she became the lover of Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce), a man with the potential to become the country's next president. While he was in power she became a symbol for the country, someone the country's poor people could relate to. The film continues up to her death of cancer when she was 33. Eva's life is presented to us through the eyes of a common man, Antonio Banderas as the "voice of the people", nameless in the film though called Che in the original musical.

The film glamorizes Eva's life, and even though it mentions the corruption in passing the darker sides are omitted. Juan Peron is presented as a "hero of the people", but he was also a Nazi sympathiser, and after the Second World War he personally granted asylum to any German war criminals able to reach South America. Argentina already had a large German immigrant community, so they were able to blend in.

The film was one of the first ever to be released on DVD. It also holds the record for the most costume changes in the film; Madonna supposedly wears 85 different outfits during the film. Maybe one day when I'm feeling bored I'll sit and count them.

On an unrelated topic... I've noticed that some people have been buying items via my blog. They're clicking on my pictures to open Amazon, then buying random items such as kitchen equipment. Thank you for this, whoever you are, because it earns me a small referral fee. I keep the advertisements in this blog to a minimum, because I'm more interested in speaking to people than making money. But if my regular readers nevertheless want to support me, thank you.