The story has been told and enlarged to Hollywood proportions, but the truth behind Eva Duarte remained, for decades, in the shadows of the fictional attempts to portrait her as a demon or a saint. Catapulted to fame after Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash stage musical “Evita” and receiving a star-tu by Madonna in Alan Parker’s movie adaptation of the same play; the myth of the Argentine First Lady transcended American frontiers to gain world recognition. Now, “Evita” the documentary, unveils the complex and ambiguous nature of the woman that ruled -with iron fist- the lives of millions. Over three thousand photographs, hundreds of hours of archival footage and recordings produced by the Peronist propaganda machine fifty years ago were unearthed and meticulously researched to bring this dynamic, larger-than-life persona back to life and far from the myth she and her followers helped to create. “Evita”, a documentary by Eduardo Montes-Bradley, traces the footsteps of the young actress bo out of wedlock who forever changed the curse of history in Argentina, for better and for worse. From her birthplace in the Pampas to her funeral spectacle in Buenos Aires, the documentary spares no conflict, nor softens the sharp edges of a questionable life placing the non-fictional character back in context; back in a post World War II society bound to rebuilt fascism long after it’s European defeat. A few have tried to play the role in the theatre and in the movies, but only one has succeeded thus far. Her name was Eva Duarte de Peron, but the world would come to know her as Evita.  Running time: 64 min.  BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON.

La vie d’Evita est contée à partir d’un retour sur ses origines familiales, mais dans la perspective de s’interroger sur la naissance et la survivance d’un mythe dans l’Argentine contemporaine. Le propos est servi par une adroite alteance du retour sur les lieux, du docufiction, des images d’archives et des actualités de l’époque, ainsi que par un mixage très réussi du son et de l’image, qui donnent à ce documentaire la puissance d’une fiction.
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REVIEWS

An Interesting Look at the Rise and Fall of the Now Mythic Evita

By. E. Valero Eteo (Woodbridge, Ontario Canada).

November 19, 2007 -  Brunette Eva Duarte arrived in Buenos Aires at the young age of 15 to seek her fortunes as a radio and motion picture actress. She would die 17 years later as the blonde goddess Eva Peron giving birth to a legend which, to this day, inspires fanatical love and hate. What happened in between those 17 years makes a fascinating story and is the basis of this interesting documentary about the late, great Argentine First Lady.

I have been an avid collector of Eva Peron and own over 150 items from books, magazines, movies & practically every documentary in existence. This documentary is definitely one of the better efforts. The photographic reproductions are in most instances, fantastic and there are a few rarities as far as the newsreel footage is conceed. I just wished the documentary would have been longer and more rare footage was shown such as Eva Duarte’s film’s and more footage of her in Europe during her extravagant Rainbow Tour.

The documentary is neutral. It does not vilify the woman and in no way does it portray her as the self-less saint of Peronist propaganda. It portrays her as a young woman with strengths, weaknesses and extraordinary charisma who changed the politics of an entire nation for better or for worse.

The one thing that bothers me about the majority of the documentaries about Evita (even the countless ones released in Argentina) is that the same footage is always shown and repeated ad-nauseum. The footage is usually unclear, with scratches showing it's age. The best footage I have seen of Eva are from documentaries released over 40 years ago, one narrated by Mike Wallace from the Biography series and simply titled Eva Peron is pretty hateful but offer some of the best footage of Eva Peron I have ever seen on film (especially during her Rainbow Tour) and the other, narrated by Walter Kronkite titled Peron & Evita is more objectionable and a bit shorter, but the footage is crystal clear. The images shown in these out-dated documentaries were of much higher quality than the ones released recently. The A & E biography used some of these old archival footage which is another documentary worthy of checking out.

I remember several months ago, I saw an introduction of this documentary on You Tube, which was a bit different and used other archival film footage. I remember being impressed with it and I wonder why it was changed. With that said, Evita: The Documentary is well put together, well researched and well narrated. It not only deals with the Argentine situation during the First Peronist period but also touches upon the Fascist govements of the time period, the second world war and the economic situations of the world and ties it all in with the rise and fall of Eva and Juan Peron. It's a bit short (IMO) but as previously mentioned, it is pretty detailed and gives us a glimpse into the life of this beautiful blonde political leader who aroused fierce passions among her fellow countrymen. Her story is laced with politics and mythology and no matter how one feels about her, we cannot deny her brilliance and power. The woman is deservedly a legend.
Wer war Evita Perón?

by Julia Knobloch

Das Bild der gütigen, vom Tod gezeichneten Blondine, die auf dem Balkon des Präsidentenpalastes ein letztes Mal das Mikrofon in die Hand nimmt und ein in Ehrfurcht erstarrtes Land anfleht, nicht um sie zu weinen, ist nur eine Facette ihrer schilleden und vielschichtigen Persönlichkeit. Fest steht: Evita Perón ist die – bislang – mächtigste Frau, die jemals auf der Bühne der argentinischen Politik gespielt hat. In ihrer Rezeption vermischen sich stets Realität und Fiktion und nähren weltweit einen unsterblichen Mythos, der von Patriotismus, Gerechtigkeit und dem Streben nach Glück erzählt.

EVITA, ein Film von Eduardo Montes-Bradley, zeichnet ein neues, ausgewogenes Porträt der legendären Eva Duarte, die 1935 aus der Provinz nach Buenos Aires kommt, um sich im Showbusiness einen Namen zu machen und weit mehr erreicht: In unglaublich kurzer Zeit schafft sie den Weg aus schäbigen Radiostudios auf den Balkon der Casa Rosada. An der Seite ihres Mannes, Präsident Juan Domingo Perón, formt sie das politische und kulturelle Selbstverständnis eines ganzen Landes: Bis heute bestimmt der Peronismus die Geschichte und Geschicke Argentiniens.

Mit sorgfältig recherchiertem und qualitativ hochwertigem Archivmaterial, geschmackvollem Reenactment sowie Dokumentaraufnahmen erzählt EVITA, The Documentary vom zielstrebigen Aufstieg einer jungen Frau vor dem Hintergrund der Weltpolitik in den 40er und 50er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts. Autor und Regisseur Eduardo Montes-Bradley scheut sich dabei nicht, deutlich am Mythos Evita zu kratzen. Eine klare Antwort auf die Frage: Wer war Evita Perón? gibt er dennoch nicht – absichtlich: Dank der objektiven und respektvollen Zusammenstellung der Fakten kann sich der Zuschauer sein eigenes Urteil bilden.