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Parker has filmed the story in the suave, dark tones of a film-noir musical. Buenos Aires becomes a character in the movie less by re-creating period exteriors than by focusing on the extras' faces--gorgeous, pensive reflections of Eva's sultry magnetism. But this is, essentially, a three-character play, demanding that the stars must sing, swagger and act with style. Pryce, consummate pro, lives fully in all three realms. Banderas parades his sex appeal as the one man who is not a father figure to Evita; he is the skeptical stud who can match her arrogance with his own.
Madonna once again confounds our expectations--and, at times, exasperations. At first a star more famous for attitude than for voice, she proved, in the 1990 Dick Tracy, equal to the sere demands of Stephen Sondheim's songs. Here again she does a tough score proud. Lacking the vocal vigor of Elaine Paige's West End Evita, Madonna plays Evita with a poignant weariness, as if death has shrouded her from infancy. And dressed in sumptuous gowns or feeling life seep away, she has more than just a little bit of star quality. Just before Eva's death, she sings the film's one new tune, which sounds eerily like an act of faith: You Must Love Me. But love or hate Madonna-Eva, she is a magnet for all eyes. You must watch her. And to find the soul of the modern musical for once on the big screen, you must see Evita.