Evita [DVD] [1997]

The big screen version of Evita has everything one expects from a film musical - great singing, great orchestra, a huge sense of scale... However, this DVD was released at the start of the DVD era, and lacks a Dolby Digital 5.1 track or an anamorphic transfer, so the image is soft and lacking in detail and the sound only in Dolby Pro-Logic. Your best bet is to purchase the French or Australian versions of the DVD, both of which have anamorphic transfers with excellent image quality and the full Dolby Digital 5.1 track, aswell as interviews, trailers and featurettes from the electronic press kit made at the time.

I've read some reviews and seen many critical of Madonna's casting in the film version of the musical Evita. Having never seen the stage show I went with no preconceptions at all and was blown away. The score was wonderful but more than anything Madonna was a revelation and I thought deserved her Golden Globe after many years of critical panning. Unfortunately for Madonna she is often bigger than the film she is in and everyone lines up to knock her. Sometimes she deserves it but not this time. It is no secret that she had to beg for the role but she was right, she has much in common with Evita herself which is why, ultimately, she was perhaps one of the few people who could truly pull off the part as the girl from the gutter who does good. On top of that Madonna's own mother died of cancer at a similar age and she doesn't look unlike her either. Eva Peron had both a hardness and a vulnerability about her, driving ambition and used fame to fill a hole in her life that ultimately consumes her. Madonna is her mirror-image. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Evita now. Madonna showed she CAN sing and had vocal coaching to increase the strength and range of her voice, she was pushing 40 when she made the film and had to play a teenager. She doesn't really pull it off but I can't imagine anyone else could have done better. And as for not being able to act - as someone who goes to the movies a lot and doesn't cry, I found myself bawling my eyes out at the end when Evita dies. Her tears seem real and painful. I watched it a 2nd time and the same thing happened. And to me that is a sign that somebody was truly taking me in with their performance. Antonio Banderas is fantastic as Che (who'd have thought he could sing like that!) and did anyone spot the singer from the Corrs as the maid who gets stomped on? All in all a great musical with a great cast and well worth watching.

I don’t wish to criticise this film. It’s actually rather good (and much better than you might expect).

My issue is that the DVD itself is rather poor. The non-anamorphic transfer is poor and when blown up to 16:9 is very grainy. The soundtrack seems to be rather low quality – just a poor quality stereo transfer. The region 1 DVD is in 5.1 and much better quality, although that too is in letterbox format.

Let’s see some justice done to this film. It deserves better than this. (But I’ve no doubt that a ‘Special Edition’ will appear one day, so we can all buy this film twice!)