Evita captured the world's imagination and the adoration of millions, both in South America and Europe in the few short years between the ages of 26 and her untimely death in 1952 at age 33. Antonio Banderas plays the opera's everyman, Che. The Hollywood and media establishments are already falling all over this film, but it is not likely to live up to the attention it's getting in the press in public acclaim. Hardly anyone will "get" all of the story in the murky musical form in which it's told, and most people will miss more than they get. Still, the performances are exceptional and as one big two-hours-plus funeral, this is, well, haunting cinema. On our scale of 10 points as perfect score, six is a "thumbs up," but not 'way up.