Shut Up & Sing

because I don't much like country music.

I am a big fan of the first amendment, however, and have thrown a few $$$ set aside for my music budget towards the Chicks.

Whether you agree with what they said or not, it is an American value to speak your mind, and a greater American value to defend the rights of others who speak their minds as well. That value is never so brilliantly displayed as when used to defend those with whom you disagree.

God (and that's MY concept of God, not yours) bless the first amendment, and more power to the Dixie Chicks.

Watch this movie. Let it warm your heart, or set a fire in your mind. That's what truly free speech will do for you.

Free speech being what it is in this country (a novel concept, wherein one person who shouts down mediocrity is immediately usurped by another, opposing voice who shouts down that original voice), it's a shame this entertaining documentary on the outspoken Dixie Chicks can't be enjoyed by everyone. A liberal viewpoint and an anti-George W. Bush comment made in London on-stage in 2003 left the one-time country music darlings Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, and Martie Maguire fueling the fires of controversy; two years later they recorded an incredibly strong (and wise) comeback-record of purpose, one that quickly put them back on top in some markets (the country network is shown as still being iffy). Whether Republican or Democrat, the new music (shrewdly, though apparently unintentionally, accessible to quite a wide audience) can certainly be enjoyed for everything it is: a defiant and sometimes joyous collection of songs which make a bold, personal statement and yet leave lots of room for debate. The band's inner-political strategy seems non-existent (the original offending comment was obviously an off-the-cuff josh with the audience); while there's certainly more Bush-bashing in private, the women band together quite impressively. Maines, who made the remark, is said to be terribly guilty about putting her cohorts in harm's way, yet her righteous anger fuels her course with very little public regret (which some will love and some will not). An impressive film with much to consider and much to admire. *** from ****

When I went to this movie, I wondered whether it would be as funny as SPINAL TAP or as insightful as FAHRENHEIT 9/11. What really shocked me was that it was more exciting than both movies. The Dixie Chicks come across as smarter than Michael Moore, funnier, kinder, and sexier too!

Unlike Michael Moore, the Dixie Chicks are not angry or driven by rage. They don't need wacko conspiracy theories to bolster their position. This incredible true story mixes glamor, humor, great music and current events in a way that lets the facts speak for themselves. All you have to do is listen to George Bush talk and you understand Natalie's whole point of view without a word being said. But then you get to meet the Dixie Chicks themselves, and it's like love at first sight.

Watching the movie, you see three very beautiful women who love their families, their music, and each other. And you get the sense that Natalie Maines, for all her wholesome Sandra Dee looks (and her considerable sex appeal), is exactly the kind of strong-willed, independent minded hero that young people should be taught to admire. It's so refreshing to see that courage doesn't always mean fighting or shooting a gun! At times you really have to stop yourself and go -- hey, did she just say that?!? But in a good way. You see this dangerous radical snuggling into the cushions like a ten year old or lounging around like a trailer park diva, but then you listen to what she's saying and her courage is just overwhelming. And her wit is razor sharp! Watch the scene where she's teasing her manager and her band mates and she uses George Bush's "with us or against us" line to make them laugh and at the same time get her point across. No wonder she's the leader of this remarkable band!

But this isn't just Natalie's movie. If you watch Emily Robison, (she's the dark-eyed, quiet one, looks like Julia Roberts but more earthy and full of strength) it's impossible not to sense that while Natalie acts, Emily thinks. She's the introspective one, and the way the movie catches her thinking and analyzing makes for fascinating viewing. Even when she's in the midst of childbirth, you sense the way she steps back mentally to gain perspective and take stock of what it all means. She's also the one, I think, who is most willing to compromise and listen to other points of view. She's like Mr. Spock to Natalie's Captain Kirk, except both of them are wives and mothers, glamorous and nurturing, strong and feminine and they never for one moment let you forget it.

If I haven't said much about Martie McGuire in this review, it's only because she comes across as very shy and less inclined to put herself out there for the film process. But her playing and singing is really beautiful, and there's one scene at the very end of the movie that will just break your heart.

In the end, I have to say that this movie exceeded my expectations as entertainment, as art and journalism and as political commentary. I'm not a big country music fan, but I would definitely buy an album by the incredibly courageous and talented people who made this film.

I also saw this movie at TIFF and thought it one of the highlights of the festival. Like the music that envelopes it, this film was worth the wait. The film shows the band as professional, very talented, and still growing in their musicianship and performing skills. At the same time, Kopple and Peck capture the personalities and heart that are at the center of the band and their music. The film is revealing about the American's media's trivializing of dissent about the Iraq war and the deep antagonisms within American society -- antagonisms that defy country v. rock v. pop v. classical labels. It clearly shows some of the ill effects of the media monopolies newly permitted by the FCC. The Dixie Chicks were ahead of some of their audience in recognizing the disastrous nature of the war but many in that audience have now caught up with those sentiments and the Dixie Chicks have broadened their audience and their music since then. The music is terrific! What a great film!

In 2003, days before the US led invasion of Iraq, Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the Country and Western group the Dixie Chicks, announced to an audience of a concert in Shepherds Bush, London, that she was ashamed that the President of the United States was from Texas, which outraged rightwing groups back in their homeland. This film documents the band over the next three years through the pointlessly huge controversy Maines' comment created, and the anger and hatred levelled at them by their main fan base, the South.

A well made film, there is however a little unevenness about Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's documentary, as although it was almost certainly begun and continued at least partly as a publicity film, what comes through is a very interesting piece on exactly what the First Amendment actually means to many Americans. And it's these parts that are the most engaging, as well as the most worrying. We are shown how a throw away comment made by a musician, someone of no real political importance, can get jumped on by media groups eager to forward their own agenda, and how the public will do whatever they are told to stay on the bandwagon.

What we see is an apparently inherent problem in how parts of America, mainly the Southern, "red" states have the attitude of 'You're Either With Us Or Against Us'. Let's face it, musicians using their music to protest a war is nothing new, but the fact that a Country and Western band, the genre of the South, dared to hold an opinion that went contrary to the idea that 'American Can Do No Wrong' seems to be so amazingly unconscionable to them that they have to react by totally ostracising them. Cue footage of rednecks burning CDs and calling for the Dixie Chicks to be executed for treason. Overkill anyone? What's seems strange is that the ideal of Free Speech, so integral in American politics and history, can be interpreted so wildly. As one protester puts it: "Free speech is all well and good, but sayings things about us in another country isn't right." Free Speech seems fine to them, as long as you don't say anything they don't want you to.

And on a further level it highlights an important issue in American politics nowadays, how it has become so polarised and as soon as something becomes political you seem to have to pick one of two opposing sides and stick to it. There seem to be a perception that there can be no shades of grey.

But slowly the film's focus moves back to the band and how they cope with their fall in sales and change of identity, from darlings of the South to political rebels and tries show, despite all this, they're still good ole fashioned Southern girls. At times you cynically realise that this is at least partly an attempt to win back their old fans, and you get the idea the band are trying to apologise without apologising; 'We're not going take back anything we said, but we wish we hadn't upset y'all. We need you to like us again.' And at times it does seem to be Natalie doing all the decision making. Admittedly it was her who made the original comment and most of the hate was focused at her, but band-mates Emily Robson and Martie Maguire seem to be just following her lead and wanted to just let it all go, with Maines taking it all personally and their manager, though with all good intentions, clearly seeing this as the best opportunity for the band to promote themselves globally. It would have been nice to see more opinion or interviews with the individual members to get their opinions rather than just footage from meetings showing Maines refusing to be apologetic again and again.

I think that Kopple and Peck have, almost seeming like they didn't mean to, have made a very interesting critique of the polarization of politics in America today and how the media sets agendas and public opinion, but once it moves on to how the Dixie Chicks are reidentifying themselves as a band in this new environment it just becomes a lot less interesting to anyone who wasn't already a fan of the band.