Shut Up & Sing by Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck (Review)

Ultimately a testament to such American values as love, friendship, family, and loyalty as much as free speech.
Shut Up & Sing

On March 10, 2003, while performing in London, the singer of the Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines said something that received cheers from the English crowd: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” And yet this single sentence would haunt her and her band mates for the next three years, and probably still does haunt them to this day.

At first blush, it doesn’t seem like that big of a statement. It’s certainly not the worst thing that an entertainer has said about Dubya. However, coming from the Dixie Chicks — a group that was deemed about as all-American as possible — it was nothing short of anathema.

Within weeks, Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison began experiencing a massive boycott from what had once been their core audience. Fans began destroying CDs, stations refused to play their music, corporate sponsors threatened to pull their support, and perhaps most shocking of all, began receiving death threats.

Shut Up & Sing captures this tumultuous time in the Dixie Chicks’ lives, chronicling both the intense criticism that they weathered as well as the intense loyalty shared by the trio, who respond to the threats with a raucous blend of fear, incredulity, stubbornness, and even laughter.

The documentary begins in 2003, as the Chicks are preparing for their latest tour. One of the most successful recording acts in recent history, having successfully bridged the gap between worlds of pop and country music, they’re literally on the top of the world. As they begin preparations for the tour, tensions in Iraq are mounting and war seems imminent.

When Maines says her infamous statement, it’s obvious from the footage that it’s partly in jest, that Maines is clearly not intending it as a political slam. And yet, in those halcyon days when Bush’s approval ratings were at their highest, and the United States’ involvement in Iraq seemed to be on sure footing, the statement was seen as incredibly un-patriotic, if not traitorous.

Although Shut Up & Sing attempts to capture the overall sentiment that was rising against the Chicks, from former fans protesting their concerts, from country music radio DJs decrying their records, and from talking heads like Bill O’Reilly (who said the Chicks should be “slapped around” for their comments), it’s primarily concerned with the three girls as they attempt to soldier on.

Shut Up & Sing is clearly not intended to be a balanced record of the events, but rather more of a personal diary showing both the good and bad fallout of Maines’ statement and of her attempts to defend her speech and stand up for what she believes in. We also get to see the maternal side of the Chicks, as they juggle their families with their careers. Part of the documentary follows the birth of Robison’s twins — footage that becomes especially painful to remember as the death threats come rolling in, threatening to take the women away from their families.

However, the documentary is not merely a puff piece for the band. We see them at their best and their worst, and though Maines comes off as a strong, fiercely independent woman not afraid to stand up for what she believes, it’s obvious that her rash behavior puts a strain on the relationships within the trio.

Shut Up & Sing also provides a fascinating look into the sinister world that is the music industry. As much of the documentary chronicles the Chicks’ meetings with agents, managers, producers, sponsors, and record execs as it does their recording and performing.

We see their manager try to defend the girls’ actions even as he tries to clean up their image for the fans and radio stations. We watch the record execs sweat bullets as tour tickets sell at a lackluster pace. And we see how interviews, photo shoots, and TV appearances become as controlled and planned as possible, lest anything interfere with the Chicks’ status as a musical brand.

Perhaps most interesting of all, we see the side of the industry that turns against the Chicks, both in the form of country music stations refusing to play their music, and national radio networks enforcing a boycott of their music from the top down. It’s especially interesting to see the hypocrisy of country radio stations who first refuse to play the Chicks’ music due to fan outcry, and then cry “foul” when the girls turn their backs on the country music industry and move on.

In the end, however, it remains a testament to the girls and their fierce loyalty to one another. Near the end of the documentary, in one particularly emotional moment, Maguire breaks down from the whole ordeal, confiding her support for Maines and desire for her peace and well-being.

It would’ve been easy for the entire movie to be rather maudlin, given the uncertainties and stresses facing the band. However, thanks to the strong personalities within the group (especially Maines’), it’s frequently laugh-out-loud funny, especially during the Chicks’ feud with Toby Keith.

I think it would be too easy to simply focus on the “free speech” angle of the film, though that is certainly an important one, especially in this day and age of a presidency that has seen fit to take elaborate measures to censure free speech. The film should ultimately be celebrated as a testament to such American values as love, friendship, family, and loyalty as much as a testament to free speech. Both highly entertaining and highly moving, Shut Up & Sing is a documentary worth seeing, even if you don’t give one whit about country music.

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