Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Blistering performances.

Frequently advertised as a documentary about freedom of speech and its cost on business, "Shut Up & Sing" is more just an in-depth look at the Dixie Chicks, a country music band from Texas.During a concert at an anti-war demonstration in London, singer Natalie Maines voices her disapproval of going to war and says "I am ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas". I noticed a few interesting things during the beginning of this documentary. In particular, that it took days before there was any ruffle in the States over this. A few London papers commented on it in articles about the concert but no concerned American picked up on it then. A few days later the Associated Press had one sentence with her quote, and then it started appearing on American conservative-right talk shows. Things for the band went straight down-hill after that."Shut Up & Sing" is a pretty good documentary. It has an interesting subject matter and they actually got some great clips and video footage. But I don't think it's as good as it could have been. I think the film-makers had an opportunity to further examine why certain talk shows thought it was necessary to try to destroy a band over a comment about the President, but no mention that they were playing at an anti-war demonstration in the first place. I think there is a lot more behind Natalie's desire to make a statement against the war and the President and if they showed me any of that there could have been more arguments against calling her ignorant.I had known about the single "Not Ready to Make Nice" and appreciated them putting that voice in their music. I am much more impressed now that I know all of the songs on that album relate to the incident. "Shut Up & Sing" has made me a new fan of the Dixie Chicks.

I've never been a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks. Until now. After watching this documentary for the second time, I went out and bought their latest album, mostly out of sheer solidarity. The movie works on many levels. It works because technically, it's a well made and perfectly edited documentary. It works because it's an interesting look at the music industry (specifically the Country Music industry). It's a great portrait of successful women, as they combine careers in the spotlight with family life and the sheer need to stay sane while on the road, in a business notorious for career ruining distractions. It also works because the documentary makers Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck, just happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch a particular moment in American history, a particular mood in certain sectors of American society. If you wanted to imagine a place to foment political controversy and start manning the barricades against the US government, you'd be hard put to think of a less likely place than the Shepherd's Bush Empire, a theatre well to the west of the London West End. It's not the type of place where revolutions are begat. I think I went there a couple of times in my youth, to see Santana (or was that the Hammersmith Odeon..?) But that was the unlikely setting for the Chick's Neo-Radical Natalie Maines to utter those infamous words "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas". This was just before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, and, rather like that other famous Texan under statement "Houston, we have a problem" her words went on to ricochet around the world, well beyond anything she could have imagined. Subjected to bans across the American airwaves, their CDs trodden underfoot, their sponsors fleeing, vilified in the press and ultimately on the receiving end of death threats, the Chicks stuck together, and stuck to their guns. As the controversy boils around them, Peck and Kopple show the Dixie Chicks assembling a new album, touring, and looked after their various kids and husbands (as all good country girls should...) and generally proving that these three delightfully talented women had backbones of steel. It can't be easy going on stage in front of several thousand people, knowing that someone has threatened to shoot you that night. But that's exactly what they did, and I love them for it. It's fascinating stuff!Maines herself seemed utterly astonished that anyone cared what she thought about the president or anything else. As she put it in the movie (and I'm paraphrasing wildly) "If I were Bruce Springsteen, no one would turn a hair if I said that." But she's not Bruce Springsteen. She's a nice Texas girly, and a Country Music star, and apparently they aren't supposed to have original and radical thoughts. It's nice to be able to note that since the film was completed, the Dixie Chicks have won 5 Grammys for the album the controversy gave birth to, and that their careers and energy appear to have been reinvigorated. They found a new producer and maybe a whole new audience. I'd say right now, their popularity is a whole lot higher than that of either GW Bush or the Iraq war. And this particular Classic Rock Neanderthal might even buy another Dixie Chicks album.

This is an excellent film that shows how easy it is to stifle dissenting voices in times where passion overshadows rational thought. This was a bit scary to watch and those who lived through the McCarthy era will find an uncomfortable chill run down their spines.I had never listened to country music or the Dixie Chicks but I must admit I found myself admiring their courage. This is a vivid reminder that the laws of our great land have are put into place to protect dissenting and minority opinions from the overwhelming burden of the beliefs of the popular majority.As the Bush Administration draws to a close the Dixie Chicks comments will become a small footnote in the pages of only the most detailed history books. I find it odd how those who profess the greatest love for this country find it so easy to hate those who exercise its most valued principles. In my book the Dixie Chicks are about everything that makes this country special.

This was an interesting show from a historical perspective. I watched the movie with great interest and I have never even listened to a Dixie Chick song in full before.Basically, this is a documentary about how the band dealt with the public reaction to a band member's on-stage comments about the president: "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."It follows them from 2003 to 2006 and depicts their personal and public reactions to what happened - and the decisions they made about what to do as a band.Although I knew nothing about them before (and politics aside), I was really impressed with them as human beings. They came across as very respectable individuals - esp. with how they talked about their sponsors and each other.I also learned about how successful and "major" this group is - I never paid attention to them before, but they're on my radar now. This documentary is worth watching for fans and non-fans alike.