Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)

That was an excellent one.

Pretty Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Greetings from Lithuania.I enjoyed "Shut Up & Sing" (2006) not only because i really like "The Dixie Chicks" band, but because this is a really involving documentary in a first place. I'm not the big fan of this band, but i did listen all of their records. But the reason of how i heard about this band in a first place was mainly because of that "scandal" and only after i listened to their music and really liked it. After i learned that there is even this documentary "Shut Up & Sing" about the "event" and "aftermath" - i couldn't stay away and not watch it.I really liked to learned more about this band, which this documentary does well. It also shows many of "behind the scene" things and they were interesting to watch. This documentary was also very well paced - at running time 1 h 30 min it almost never drags and is involving all the way. All in all "Shut Up & Sing" is a really good documentary about the "all American girls" who said to much, but never regret it.

I knew that the chicks were vilified for speaking out against the Iraq war, but I presumed it was calculated and that they were politically savvy. Not so, as it turned out, it was merely a throwaway comment from the lead singer which she wouldn't have said if she'd realized the consequences. Saying that, this was a good indication of how nuts mainstream America is. They even got death threats! Beyond the PR damage limitation exercises and the corporate proclamations of their oily manager, this was quite an interesting journey. Unfortunately, I don't like their middle-of-the-road music at all, although some of the lyrics are quite good. It was a good finale when they returned to London. I would have called this Don't shut up and don't sing.

This is a sad story of a music group that had it all and threw it away because of an arrogant misplaced sense of pride and self importance. Although this was a completely biased view of the issue from the "chicks" point-of-view it really does show the arrogance that these people have, especially Maines, toward people that support and believe in their country and the concept that it's wrong and unpatriotic to go overseas and make provocative statements about their own country and its leadership at a time of war whether you agree with a current policy or not.Now I'm no Bush fan but I would never do what they did and even as they acknowledged that it was a mistake their actions afterward, all the way up to present times, really show how they don't care about the concepts of being patriotically tactful. Of course there are other people that have this same blissful arrogance, as the name Jimmy Carter comes to mind, but what's amazing is that they seem to be oblivious to why their fans are mad at them. Their F.U attitude to their fans for something they did wrong is just amazing to me.Although this documentary ends prior to their Grammy awards in 2007 and their top charting album release I fear that they may take their 2007 success as some indication that they are back on their own terms and can continue to shove their noses at country music fans.When I look at their 2007 Grammy awards all I see is a Hollywood industry that simply wanted to make an anti-Bush statement which was a weak gesture and quite frankly unfair to the other artists that worked hard that year only to have their work go unrecognized due to what was essentially a Hollywood protest vote against the War. And although they had their 2007 Album top the chart for a short time it's still clear that they had major tour ticket sales issues and short lived record sales.In the end it looks like the "chicks" are at the decline of their careers and it's sad that they couldn't be a little more humble about their mistake and the fallout from it. If they were just a bit less selfish they might have been able to get their careers back on track. A lot of people were counting on them to provide a living for their families and because of this arrogance it's all gone now. It's truly sad.

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.