Evita - The Making Of A Superstar (BBC2)

I expected more about the life of the musical. A bit disappointed.

There are tons of interesting books about the real Evita for those who are interested.

The musical is based off a book by Mary Main, which was hyper critical of the Perón's, as she grew up in Argentina with a British ancestry I believe. There are portions of the biography which have been discredited and disproven beyond doubt. However, the sentiment is accurate. Perónism did indeed bankrupt society - that is a key point.

But Main's novel, and therefore the famous musical it is shaped from, have indelibly imprinted on us the lasting legacy of Evita as we know it. Well, "we" outside of Argentina - in her homeland she is still worshipped by many as the Goddess she was pitched as towards the end of her life.

In short, I've read three books and watched countless documentaries on Evita and Perónism and I'm still none the wiser. Like Thatcher, Perónism seems to be entirely subjective to one's political opinions - marmite.

Although I would say, if one looks at the results, economically and from an ambassadorial perspective, they don't come out of it well from an international democratic perspective. They did of course enable the 'ratlines' which allowed thousands of German nazis and war criminals to escape to South America. They gave free harbour to same and refused extradition - and committed their own atrocities of free speech upon their own society.

Finally, nobody actually voted for Evita. She was the wife of the president who led a military junta in extremely volatile times. She was a hardcore socialist in an outright fascist government.

One thing that did strike me on the programme was EP seemed to struggle with singing the songs now.