Yes this Movie is beautifully shot. Yes the costumes are authentic. Yes they stayed true to the stage musical.Yes they have put a huge amount of effort into it. So whats wrong with it then ?

Well its because they have stuck so close to the musical. Movies as we all know are a completely different medium to the stage and must be handled in a completely different way.

There is no dialogue in this Movie. EVERYTHING that is communicated is by lyric's in a song to describe what is happening. This makes it extremely hard to follow everything that is going on in this Movie. Because you are concentrating so much on the lyrics you tend to miss much of what is actually happening on screen.

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Now on stage this is not a bad thing as songs can quite easily be the central focus. But Cinema is different. When characters talk on screen it is extremely easy for us to follow as this is what people do best - chat. We do not follow lyrics in the same way. Hands up evryone who has misheard a lyric at some point.

What would have imporved this Movie quite considerably is if they had decided that, yes convert Evita to the screen but we dont need every single song. Because it is a different medium take the good bits and mix them in with what Cinema does well. Some dialogue would have been necessary to help give the Movie some balance.

There have been many good musicals in the past, but haven't most of them had at least some dialogue to add some variation to the movie?

Personally because I was concentrating I never felt involved in what was happening on screen and shouldn't we always feel involved in a Movie. I just felt completely cold about it.

The story of Eva Peron is one that a great Movie could be made out of, the source material is rich in content. Lets hope that someone makes a Movie about her without so many songs.

Tall Guy