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SHUT UP & SING
Directed & Produced by: Barbara Kopple & Cecilia Peck.
Camera: Christine Burrill, Luis Lopez, Seth Gordon, Gary Griffin & Joan Churchill.
Edited by Bob Eisenhardt, A.C.E., Jean Tsien, Aaron Kuhn, & Emma Morris.
Released by: The Weinstein Company.
Country of Origin: USA. 93 Min. Rated: R.
With: The Dixie Chicks

The biggest-selling female group of all time, the Dixie Chicks were beginning a world tour in London when, on March 10, 2003, and just days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Natalie Maines, the group’s lead singer, uttered the words that exploded worldwide, catapulting them off course and dead center into the political fray threatening their livelihoods – and at one moment – their lives.

The film begins with what became known as “the incident,” as Maines blurts out between songs, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas,” chuckling as it came out of her mouth to cheers from the crowd. This moment sets the stage for this exciting documentary by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck, chronicling the behind-the-scenes implications of Maines’ remark on the band, their families, recording label, and especially how it played in their country music fan base. Kopple and Peck initially approached the Chicks in 2003 about doing a documentary, but the band was reeling and not ready to let any filmmakers in. Luckily, they had their on-stage and offstage lives recorded for their website, and the directors were given access to all the footage that was shot before the group came on board, enabling the directors to craft a film that gets directly to the heart of the price artists pay for speaking out against a government war machine.

The film goes back and forth between 2003 when the explosion against the Dixie Chicks began, and 2005, when they are recording their “comeback” album. What is so amazing to remember is that the band stepped into a perfect storm of circumstances that whipped the anti-Dixie Chicks public into a frenzy. The comment made in London was 10 days before the invasion, and the group arrived back in the U.S. for their first show in Greenville, SC, just as George Bush landed his plane on the deck of the battleship with the banner touting the now laughable message “Mission Accomplished.” Kopple, a political filmmaker best known for the Oscar-winning documentary Harlan County, U.S.A., includes news footage of the Bush team from Donald Rumsfeld to Colin Powell touting Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, reminding us in hindsight of the absurdity of the situation the Dixie Chicks fell into.

The film also shows a deeply divided country where these women were blacklisted from country radio, excoriated on right-wing talk radio and TV. Radio stations organized CD burning parties, all geared to whip up a frenzy of hate. It got so out of control that Maines received a death threat with a date and a city. As the women take the stage that evening, the terror on their faces is palpable. Yet they fight back and show immense strength wearing T-shirts on stage saying, “Dare to be free,” and encouraging boos at their concerts because “They believe in free speech.”

A true cautionary tale, the film highlights the way an incredibly successful band with the #1 selling single can be pushed off its pedestal by the whirlwind of the media and the blogosphere. One of the best things about the film is that you get to see these stars as women, mothers, and breadwinners concerned about their future, all the while gaining strength within themselves and their “sisterhood” against those who try to derail and hurt them. It turns out this “incident” might have been the best thing to ever happen to them. It has allowed them to shed their past and be reborn as new artists, and with the success of their new album, they are, indeed, having the last laugh. Melissa Silverstein
October 27, 2006