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Shut Up & Sing
Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck, USA, 2006
Rating: 4.0
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Posted:
December 3,
2006
By
Kevin Forest Moreau
No matter which side of the political divide you call home, Shut Up &
Sing -- Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's engrossing documentary about
the Dixie Chicks' infamous 2003 Bush-bashing incident and its aftermath --
isn't likely to change your mind. Which is too bad, because there's a lesson
here even for supporters of the Iraq war (and for non-Chicks fans).
Although the film is undoubtedly slanted in the country trio's favor, it's
chilling to watch fans turn on them, burning and trampling CDs and even (in
one instance) issuing a death threat -- all because of a relatively
innocuous comment. (There isn't one late-night comic who hasn't said far
worse things about President George W. Bush hundreds of times -- but
supposedly they get a pass because unlike the Chicks, they didn't smear W.
on foreign soil. Never mind that the British citizenry was already largely
and steadfastly opposed to the war, and a comment that the Dixie Chicks were
ashamed Bush hails from their home state wasn't likely to sway the minds of
any fence-sitters who might happen to be in the audience -- at a country
music concert in London.)
It's hard not to feel for the Chicks as a media frenzy erupts, its tour
sponsor Lipton Tea gets skittish and country radio turns its collective back
-- and not because you feel for the financial future of these attractive
multimillionaires; singer Natalie Maines even admits that "the incident" is
the best thing to happen to their career in ages, leading to an interview
with Diane Sawyer and an Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. No, the
Dixie Chicks are not a prerequisite for life, and their fans are free to
stop supporting them if they choose. What elicits our sympathy is how the
film illustrates that Bush and the war act as the ultimate polarizing
issues, the two topics on which it's seeming impossible to simply agree to
disagree, and woe betide anyone who gets on the wrong side of that line.
Politics aside, Shut Up & Sing offers an intriguing look at the
working life of a multi-platinum country act, whether on tour, in
damage-control mode (the scenes with band manager Simon Renshaw are among
the film's most fascinating) or writing and recording new material. The
latter glimpses are especially interesting as the band sits down with
Semisonic's Dan Wilson and producer Rick Rubin, and talks inter-band
politics with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. (One perhaps
unintended side effect: The new songs resonate and stick in the listener's
head better than they do on CD.)
And the Dixie Chicks themselves aren't unafraid to show themselves as less
than perfect, wrestling emotionally with the aftermath of the incident, even
as they grow ever closer as a unit. (It's probably also unintentional, but
Maines comes off as a bit high-minded and annoying, which is closer to
ceding the other side's point of view than most of the Chicks' detractors
seem to come.)
But ultimately, it's impossible to separate the film from its political
context. Shut Up & Sing proves gripping (and more than a little
frightening) for its glimpse into the red-hot issues of rabid ideology and
freedom of speech that still resonate today, more than three years after
Maines' comment. You leave the theater wishing more people would see it and
perhaps sheepishly say to the person next to them, "You know, maybe we
did overreact a little."
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