Evita -- 1996 -- PG

In 1996, this film was nominated for a dozen Oscars including best picture. It lost most of them against The English Patient. The English Patient!!! This movie was robbed. It won best song to which Andrew Lloyd Webber quipped, "I'm so glad the English Patient didn't have a song in it."

I admit to loving the musical long before I saw the movie. I've seen it on stage and have both the original recording as well as the Broadway version, so I am obviously going to be a critic of this one. The movie version was incredible. That which would translate was translated, and tht which wouldn't wasn't. They brought back some material that was cut from the stage that worked incredibly well in a new context.

One big change was the movement of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from the mistress of Peron to being sung by Eva. While some criticize this move, the mistress was nothing more than a mirror of Eva, and giving that much time to a non-character is ludicrous in a film. It worked on stage since it gave the actress playing Eva a break. The context it was placed in in the film worked very well though.

The new song continues to bring tears to my eyes every time I hear it. The actors do an amazing job with it, and allow that suspension of disbelief even though they sing through the whole thing. That's an accomplishment. The power surging through this story as it comes to the end is wonderful. It should have won Best Picture. It was robbed.