While there's a co-director alongside her, I would consider this a Barbara Kopple documentary. It's about the Dixie Chicks, and not just in that following-around-the-stars piece like with Wild Man Blues. It covers the controversy surrounding the off-the-cuff comment one of the Chicks made about George W. Bush and the Iraq War right before the war started - a controversy imbued by the wrath of zealous dingbats and ignorant country-music sycophants. This isn't to say that there aren't some bright, intelligent people who listen to country music and don't follow blindly to the Toby Keith credo of America putting a boot up somebody's ass cause it's the American way. But there are some, definitely out there, at least more-so back when Bush's approval ratings were sky-high.I use the word dingbats not lightly, but not without some generalization. It wasn't just the "scorned fans" who based upon one remark held up protest signs and went all "Lennon-said-this-about-Jesus-Etc-so-on" on the band, but the rabid right-wing media, country music stations across the country, and almost ironically the girls became the biggest selling recording artists for their record label for the year. What Kopple does brilliantly here is convey the bittersweet feeling of being on the road, being behind the scenes with the tour people and the management (there's definitely the best footage of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing I've seen since Gimme Shelter's scattered bits), and also depict without pretense or obfuscation these three girls's total joy at being so high at the top of fame while also bewildered and frightened (or not) by the backlash of the Bush comment.One can dissect till no end the significance not even so much the comment but the kind of crazy tree of a context that came out of it. It's also about how something connects so strongly that it's hard to disconnect: the Dixie Chicks aren't a political band (although their lead singer is definitely, and cheerfully defiantly, the most outspoken of the group in meetings), but one comment sets off a chain-reaction, "reacting to reacting" as one person says, and Kopple manages very well going back and forth between the turbulent "past" of 2003 and the present of 2005 when things finally turned around with Bush and his war. It goes without saying freedom of speech is a big issue to contend with in the film as well, but that would take another four or five paragraphs to dissect and comment on.But one more note should be made: I don't love the Dixie Chicks' music. They're talented enough and make some sweet tunes, but they're only a tiny cut above the rest of many a dreary and repetitive and forgettable country music group of the now. But personal taste, for all intents and purposes just as with Wild Man Blues, doesn't have to factor into someone's enjoyment of the film. If you're interested in country music, that's fine, but for those looking for just a solid documentary with a clear-eyed and sympathetic portrayal of its subjects and their ordeal, then you're in for something somewhat special - it's a movie with a conscience.

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.

The Dixie Chicks are extremely talented musicians. They are also extremely not understanding of the way politics work, as this movie proves. It's a documentary about the (admittedly, sometimes extreme) reaction America had when lead singer Natalie Maines said to a very anti-war London audience that she was "ashamed that the US president was from Texas." What the Dixie Chicks apparently didn't realize was that they were making a very political statement, and that has consequences.This film certainly did not make me an anti-Bush fanatic; it didn't really change my political standing at all. The Dixie Chicks had every right to say what they said- that's freedom of speech. But America had every right to react the way it did- that's freedom of speech too. The Dixie Chicks never really could understand this. They seemed to think that the reaction to their statement was "like, totally not fair." But it was very fair.I suppose you do have to give them points for sticking by what they said. "Taking the Long Way" as they called it in their songs. And I think that's what this movie was trying to do. They were brave for sticking together and not taking an easy way out which would have been easy to do. There's even one or two truly emotional scenes as they talk about the pain this has caused each of them personally. And by then end, you do nod your head in approval- even though they never should have said what they said in the first place. But, like I said, it was their right, and it always will be.Speaking strictly of film-making, it is a very well-shot and well-put together movie, if you can even say that about a documentary. I've always had trouble watching things like this anyway because I've never quite understood how they work. Are "scenes" re-shot? How much is scripted dialogue? We'll never know those things, unfortunately, which means we'll never know how much of any documentary is real. But oh well...Shut Up and Sing is interesting for sure, and definitely worth a view. I personally found it more laughable watching these three think they were being so mistreated. That may not be your feelings. Watch it for yourself and find out. 6/10 stars...Jay Addison

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 ****