Monday, February 22, 2010

Evita


I was watching the movie last night "Evita" we saw this movie in 1996 when it came out in theaters. I thought it was a good movie and some of my friends did not like it. In 1997 Madonna won a Golden Globe award and so did the movie. Madonna played the part of Eva Peron, the wife of the President of Argentina Juan Peron from 1945 until her death in 1952.

Maria Eva Duarte was born out of wedlock in rural Argentina in 1919, she spent her childhood in Junin, Buenos Aires with five sisters and brothers. In 1935 at age 15, Eva moved to Buenos Aires to pursue her dream of movie stardom. She spent many difficulties of surviving without a formal education in a overcroeded city. In 1936, she toured with a theater company and pursued this career until she met Colonel Juan Peron on January 22, 1944, they married the following year.

When Peron became President, Eva did not want to be a model wife like other wives, she wanted to work with Peron., hence the people called her Evita and as time went on and her work with the Foundation progressed they proclaimed her a saint. Within a few years her foundation assets in cash and goods exceeded three billion pesos or over $200 million at the exchange rate of the late 1940s.

Her foundation she had started had many services, its aims were to provide monetary assistance and scholarships to gifted children from impoverished backgrounds, built homes and homes for the seniors, schools, hospitals and orphanages. This was to satisfy the basic needs of less privileged class. Evita was able to have a law passed for equality of political rights between men and women and in September, 1947 it was finally established, women now had the right to vote.

By 1951 her health was deteoriating rapidly and she under went surgery, she had cervical cancer. After Juan Peron's second inauguration, Evita was given the official title of "Spiritual Leader of the Nation". Despite all available treatment and by June, 1952, weighing only 79 pounds, Evita died at the age of 33 years of age. Her work had become a part of thousands of men, women and children who mourned her. Eva became an icon during her reign as wife of Peron. Argentina owe a debt to Evita for offering an example of passion and combativeness.

After Evita's death, the military demolished all the buildings and homes that Evita's foundation had built, her foundation did not last too many years after she died. It took more than twenty years after her death for Eva to find her final resting place.

The military removed her body from the labor unions headquarters in Buenos Aires and it disappeared. For years her family wrote letters requesting meetings with the military with no results. Just to show you how the military was, they feared an uprising so they moved her a few times and finally they moved her to Italy, and buried her under a asumed name. In 1971 the military returned her body to Juan Peron, he had been exiled to Madrid, Spain. Eva's family traveled to Spain and retreaved her body. Evita's body had been profaned, her neck partially severed, her face disfigured with hammer blows, her face and body slashed with a knife or sword, her knees broken, a finger severed, her nose crushed. This is so sad, no one deserves this kind of treatment, this is sacrelige in the worst way.

Eva has found her resting place, one that she deserves after all that. I think she was doing the right thing for her country, she made a lot of enemies along the way but she did right by the poor of her country. After 26 years Eva is buried in the Duarte family tomb in the Raloceta cemetery of Buenos Aires. To make sure she would not be stolen away again the tomb was built by a company that specializes in bank vaults and is built to resist burglary attempts, and her sister has the only key.. She is buried 20 feet underground, Eva was finally laid to rest in a glass covered coffin, the tomb will resist fire and bombings.

I really enjoyed this movie and still do when it is on the TV. Evita is listed as one of the great ladies of our times. Others may look at her and what she did with a different view.

20 comments:

A New Beginning said...

Thants an interesting movie, thanks for a great review :)
Have a beautiful week ahead!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

A most interesting account about Evita, many facts I did not know. I haven't seen the film but know of the musical on stage from which some lovely songs originate.
Thanls for sharing.

Yvonne.

Judy said...

Thanks Margaret for a most interesting post. I can't believe I have never seen this movie. I will have to order it from netflix soon. Sounds like a great one.

Doug Cloud said...

Great post, Mom. There's actually a whole site about Evita here. They have a ton of historical information about her there.

Gigi Ann said...

I have never seen the movie, but the information is interesting.

Anonymous said...

Boy what treatment they gave to her. I am stunned. I don't think anyone deserves treatment like this. I always thought Evita was cherished by her country and never realized this was the true history surrounding her.

I have read news accounts that the remains of Hitler were buried in Russia all over the place and repeatedly dug up and reburied. A piece of his skull with the bullet hole in it was reported to be on Stalin's desk.

I mentioned this because I often wonder what people fear when they do these kinds of things to dead bodies?

Linda said...

I've never seen the movie and didn't know this history. Thanks for the informative writing, as always. Very interesting!

Arlee Bird said...

EVITA is one of my and my wife's favorite movies. We saw it in a couple of times in the theatre and having bought the DVD have watched it several times since. The music is wonderful. I was only aware of Eva Peron and did not know much about her. My wife, being from South America, was very familiar with her story.

Anonymous said...

Like the others, I have not seen this movie either but surely will since your post Margaret. I did not know she died so young. What a shame. I look forward to seeing it. xo

Chandrika Shubham said...

Interesting information. :) After reading this post I wanna see the movie. :)
Thanks for sharing. :)

Patty said...

I've never seen the movie and I knew very little about her until reading your post. Thanks for the information. They did treat her horribly after her death. What monsters to do something like that to a corpse and her family.

Becky said...

I have heard of the movie, but never saw it. What a great review Margaret. Now I do want to see it.
Thanks.
B.

Merle said...

Dear Margaret ~~ Great post about Evita. Such an interesting post with information a lot of us didn't
know about. Glad you liked the Two
Wolves, and the jokes about the snake/fishing story.Take care my friend. I am OK, seeing another doctor on Monday. Love, Merle.

Lorie Shewbridge said...

Great post, I never saw this movie as I am not a fan of Madonna. I loved learning all of this about the real Eva Peron. What a horrible thing the military did to her body. Thank you for all the great history lesson.

DeniseinVA said...

I have never seen the movie either but this post was a great one Margaret, I enjoyed reading about Eva Peron but how sad that she died so young. Thank you and have a great weekend.

Midlife Mom said...

Great post, I enjoyed it so much. I have never seen the movie but now will watch it when it comes on cable. How sad the military undid all the good that she did in her life time. Also why would anyone want to treat a dead person in such a way. Very sad!!!!

Urmi said...

Thanks a lot for informing about this wonderful movie. I will definitely watch it. You have given a very good review.

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Margaret:)

Wonderful review of the movie. It clearly shows that a person doesn't need education and background to become great in this world. Just fierce determination to achieve and to serve the poor and needy.

Perhaps this has something to do with Madonna's own background.

Have a nice day Margaret:)
Joseph

Kay said...

This was so interesting, Margaret! I had no idea! I've seen the musical on stage as well as the movie but your post gave it new meaning for me.

Lilly said...

Thanks for that Margaret. I didnt realise she was so young when she died, only 33. I have never watched the movie but I did see the musical onstage in London like nearly 30 years ago. Oh dear that makes me feel very old....

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