Hello, American Midwesterner here. I was on a blind date once shortly after Evita came out in the movies (I was about 19). I mentioned how the movie was good and she seemed interesting.
His reply was "no. she was the devil. well some would say that." and he seemed put off. He was irritated enough where I felt uncomfortable asking him why. All I really said in reply was "Really? hmm. Hollywood I guess." Date ended awkwardly.
The only thing I knew about him was that he was an American too, with Italian heritage, and he was a "smart college guy". But this moment stayed with me. It comes to mind year after year whenever I see Evita revival posters, or even just seeing it on TV sometimes.
SO, was he right? Meaning, yes there are groups of people who feel this way because of certain events in history. I gained the impression that she had a positive legacy. OR could it be a simple case of him thinking of the wrong movie or even an entirely different person?
Even among Argentines, she is a very controversial figure. That said, the musical is not a particularly balanced version of her life, being based (allegedly—this is suspected but has never been confirmed) on a very negative biography in English titled The woman with the whip by Mary Main. It incorporates several popular myths and presents them as factual (among them: the existence of Swiss bank accounts where the Peróns allegedly hid money has never been proven and is at best dubious and likely fictional).
As a political party, the Perónists were and have been divisive in Argentine politics (Carlos Menem and the Kircheners were all Peronist politicians). Juan and Eva Perón have been criticized as being fascists by their opponents (again, depending on the source this is debatable). One also needs to consider the unusual nature of a sitting head of state—a military man—seeking to run his politically inexperience wife as his Vice President, in the early 1950s in a Latin American nation.
That said, she is remembered quite fondly especially by poor women who were the target of her development campaigns.
There are a number of decent biographies of Evita in English. For example: Dujovne Ortiz, Alicia (1996). Eva Perón. St. Martin's Press, or Fraser, Nicholas; Navarro, Marysa (1996). Evita: The Real Life of Eva Perón. W.W. Norton & Company.
If you’re interested in learning more, pick one up. (A good article by biographer Tomas Eloy Martinez is The Woman Behind the Fantasy ).