Opening with her premature death, this musical about Argentinean first lady Eva Péron flashes back in time to show her rise to fame before becoming embroiled in politics when her husband assumed control of the country. The standout aspects here are the music and memorable songs, however, they are a mixed blessing. There is a hardly any spoken dialogue with the characters singing over 90% of the time, which renders it hard to get under anyone's skin. By the end, one gets the sense that Eva was loved by many and hated by some, but the reasons why are never clear with the music/songs always at the forefront; it is not clear either how Eva ticked as an individual and how her mind worked, and Madonna is hardly spectacular, vocals aside. Antonio Bandares gets the film's best moments as a narrator of sorts, slyly winking at the camera and exuding lots of charisma, but he is not on screen anywhere near often enough to carry the project. Those with some knowledge of the actual Eva Péron and Argentina's political history may well get more out of the film. For those uneducated in such areas though, this is not a great place to start. Accurate sets and costumes ensure that the film looks good and with all that amazing music it sounds good too, but if as important as the film makes out her life to be, a non- musical narrative may have done better justice to the legacy of Eva Péron.
