Evita

Evita (1996) is Alan Parker's sung-through musical drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Madonna takes the title role and carries nearly the whole film in song, with barely a line of spoken dialogue. It traces a woman's climb from the bottom of Argentine society to the top of its politics.

Eva Duarte grows up poor, drifts into Buenos Aires and chases work on radio and in pictures. A chance meeting with rising officer Juan Perón (Jonathan Pryce) rewrites her life: as his wife she becomes the darling of the poor and a thorn in the side of the old elite. Watching it all with a cold eye is Che, played by Antonio Banderas, the narrator who keeps poking holes in the legend. The crowds worship their first lady while Che keeps asking what that adoration really cost.

Parker adapted the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice stage hit that had packed houses on Broadway. "You Must Love Me," written fresh for the film, picked up the Oscar for Best Original Song. The whole thing rests on Madonna, and people will argue about her acting forever, but her "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is hard to shake. Stream Evita (1996) online on iFILM.