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Average User Score: 8 (14 sources)

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4EverGreen

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A wonderful, perfect story for fans of music, free speech, and of course peace. This movie puts the Dixie Chicks right where they belong: on the top of my list of respect! 8) This movie invigorated me, and I highly recommend it to anyone else who...
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A wonderful, perfect story for fans of music, free speech, and of course peace. This movie puts the Dixie Chicks right where they belong: on the top of my list of respect! 8) This movie invigorated me, and I highly recommend it to anyone else who wants to be invigorated! :idea: Enough said, true believers! ;)

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Posted nov 6, 2009 3:04 pm pt

thuginthemaking

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Great documentary...

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Posted oct 20, 2009 9:39 pm pt

supercin721

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I do enjoy my country music and I liked the occasional Dixie Chicks song. I wasn't a fan, however, until they exploited, rightly so, their newfound notoreity after Natalie made a flippant comment about the president. This documents the...
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I do enjoy my country music and I liked the occasional Dixie Chicks song. I wasn't a fan, however, until they exploited, rightly so, their newfound notoreity after Natalie made a flippant comment about the president. This documents the controversy and aftermath and how they handled their comeback. Regardless of political stance, everyone can learn from this. The hatred and threats that the Dixie Chicks had to contend with, all because they disagreed with the politics of the president, was disgusting. After 9/11, anything anti-war was dubbed as unpatriotic, as "evil", as with "them." Whoever spun this really did a disservice to this country because it's free speech that is our cornerstone. In any event, whether it's in vogue to argue with your government or not, it's always a right, always a perogative that we have. Noone should feel threatened for exercising it.

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Posted feb 2, 2008 10:57 pm pt

la_survive

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I've just seen the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and Sing at my local cinema. The Sydney Film Festival is currently touring a selection of movies in Cairns, which this doco was one. For a number of reasons (mainly that I am just too busy to...
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I've just seen the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and Sing at my local cinema. The Sydney Film Festival is currently touring a selection of movies in Cairns, which this doco was one. For a number of reasons (mainly that I am just too busy to think most of the time) I had not gotten around to seeing this movie, although I had heard of it and knew what it was about. I really wanted to see it at the cinema, so I was lucky to get the chance. Firstly, I need to point out that I am a huge Dixie Chicks fan; however, I am a "new" fan. I only got into the Dixie Chicks around 18 months ago, actually when I moved here (to Cairns). For the first time their music started to speak to me, and they are now easily my favorite band. So the point I am making is that I didn't really know anything about them before the 'incident' so I guess my perspective is a little off.
Having said that, I really loved the film. The Dixie Chicks are fascinating because they truly are 3 very normal women who happen to be incredibly talented, and who came along at just the right time, really re-creating in many ways the country music scene. And then everything came crashing down around them because of one comment that, without a doubt, was blown completely out of perspective.
What I really loved about this documentary was the honesty of everyone involved. These girls don't pretend to be anything that they are not - and their truthfulness, and their being themselves is truly endearing and only made me respect them all the more.
As a Dixie Chicks fan, and particularly a huge fan of their latest album, the film also meant a lot to me through the way they incorporated a huge number of their songs into the story. I feel a special connection to Taking the Long Way and Not Ready to Make Nice and to see origins of these (and other) songs meant a lot and, if anything, gave them more meaning to me.
The film also really touched me in that I see a lot of myself in Natalie Maines. I have a very big mouth which has been known to get me into trouble and which occasionally offends people because I say what I mean, which is not always what people want to hear. Over the years I have tried training myself in the opposite of this, so that I don't offend people and make life easier on myself and the people around me, but what this movie really showed me is that doing that is false - it is being yourself and standing up for who you are and what you believe that really counts.
So, I now plan to go out and buy this one - because I really think that there is a lesson in it for me, and simply for the sake of supporting the Dixie Chicks, which I want to do even more so now.

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Posted nov 28, 2007 7:39 pm pt

la_survive

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I've just seen the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and Sing at my local cinema. The Sydney Film Festival is currently touring a selection of movies in Cairns, which this doco was one. For a number of reasons (mainly that I am just too busy to...
[+] Read Full Review

I've just seen the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and Sing at my local cinema. The Sydney Film Festival is currently touring a selection of movies in Cairns, which this doco was one. For a number of reasons (mainly that I am just too busy to think most of the time) I had not gotten around to seeing this movie, although I had heard of it and knew what it was about. I really wanted to see it at the cinema, so I was lucky to get the chance. Firstly, I need to point out that I am a huge Dixie Chicks fan; however, I am a "new" fan. I only got into the Dixie Chicks around 18 months ago, actually when I moved here (to Cairns). For the first time their music started to speak to me, and they are now easily my favorite band. So the point I am making is that I didn't really know anything about them before the 'incident' so I guess my perspective is a little off.
Having said that, I really loved the film. The Dixie Chicks are fascinating because they truly are 3 very normal women who happen to be incredibly talented, and who came along at just the right time, really re-creating in many ways the country music scene. And then everything came crashing down around them because of one comment that, without a doubt, was blown completely out of perspective.
What I really loved about this documentary was the honesty of everyone involved. These girls don't pretend to be anything that they are not - and their truthfulness, and their being themselves is truly endearing and only made me respect them all the more.
As a Dixie Chicks fan, and particularly a huge fan of their latest album, the film also meant a lot to me through the way they incorporated a huge number of their songs into the story. I feel a special connection to Taking the Long Way and Not Ready to Make Nice and to see origins of these (and other) songs meant a lot and, if anything, gave them more meaning to me.
The film also really touched me in that I see a lot of myself in Natalie Maines. I have a very big mouth which has been known to get me into trouble and which occasionally offends people because I say what I mean, which is not always what people want to hear. Over the years I have tried training myself in the opposite of this, so that I don't offend people and make life easier on myself and the people around me, but what this movie really showed me is that doing that is false - it is being yourself and standing up for who you are and what you believe that really counts.
So, I now plan to go out and buy this one - because I really think that there is a lesson in it for me, and simply for the sake of supporting the Dixie Chicks, which I want to do even more so now.

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Posted nov 28, 2007 7:39 pm pt

strategyking92

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nothing but liberal propoganda. What is next, a "i'm sorry for being a hippocrite: the al gore memoirs?" i bet it would sell well, even though it would be an obvious public ploy.

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Posted may 28, 2007 4:57 am pt

joshkedwards

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the dixie chicks make me proud to own their albums and proud to be a american who is not afraid to speak his mind.

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Posted mar 3, 2007 4:50 pm pt

shotime1979

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What makes people hate someone, or a group of people so much, that they make death threats?...It's just unthinkable, how things spiral out of control when you give your opinion on something, and someone disagrees. Guess what...That's the first...
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What makes people hate someone, or a group of people so much, that they make death threats?...It's just unthinkable, how things spiral out of control when you give your opinion on something, and someone disagrees. Guess what...That's the first amendment. People have to realize that we have the right to say offensive things, although what Natalie Maines said wasn't offensive at all is was a flippant comment. If she would have said what she said now, nobody would care, because now we all see the President for what he is, he's a liar. The only people who doesn't realize he's a liar are the people in the movie who protested the Dixie Chicks, and who sent them death threats. Now that I'm through with that...The music is good, if you like country music, you'll like this movie. A very good documentary about freedom of speech, and the making of the Dixie Chicks album "Taking the Long". 10/10.

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Posted feb 25, 2007 4:38 am pt

• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  100
  Documentary filmmakers pray for something to happen to their subjects when the cameras are rolling, and two-time Academy Award-winning documentarian Kopple struck gold when Maines told a crowd on the opening night of the band's first European tour that she was "ashamed" that President Bush was from Texas.

  by Joel Selvin | Read Full Review »
• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  100
  The Dixie Chicks may never regain their prolonged eminence on the country charts. However, the art and entertainment value of this movie (and of their latest album) is off the charts in the best way.

  by Michael Sragow | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  91
  The film may be subtitled "Shut Up & Sing," but you can't sing with your mouth closed.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  88
  While it's unlikely that her film will sway former fans who swore off the band for political reasons, that seems beside the point.

  by Angel Cohn | Read Full Review »
• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  88
  For three years, the camera focuses on the Chicks as wives, mothers, entertainers and political flash points. Their fight to stay uncompromised is inspiring.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  88
  A seriously entertaining highlight of the fall season.

  by Michael Phillips | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  88
  The documentary shows what a tight-knit group the Chicks are.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  88
  Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's film is a fascinating look at the intersection of commerce, celebrity, and controversy.

  by Wesley Morris | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  83
  Through it all, Natalie Maines' decision to shirk humility, to stick by her guns, to the point that the group returns to that London concert venue in 2006 and she utters the same joke again, becomes a feisty and inspiring act of something there is only one word for: patriotism.

  by Owen Gleiberman | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Magazine
  
  80
  What a mind-bending odyssey ensues--a tale of good old-fashioned American free expression at war with good old-fashioned American capitalism.

  by David Edelstein | Read Full Review »
• [+] Newsweek
  
  80
  The filmmakers are clearly in awe of the Chicks' fighting spirit. If you think Maines's original Bush remark was disrespectful, wait till you hear what she calls him here. Maines is not ready to make nice, and neither is this riveting documentary.

  by David Ansen | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  80
  The movie endorses the liberal conception of the Chicks as free-speech heroes, which doesn't quite wash: Maines shot her mouth off to a receptive overseas crowd, then issued an apology as soon as the backlash began back home.

  by J.R. Jones | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  78
  Though the advertising plays up the film's Bush-bashing angle, it gives a false impression. This is really more of a backstage drama.

  by Marjorie Baumgarten | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  75
  The fact that you might emerge from the theater eager to give their albums a listen is a testament to how effective this lively and stirring movie about freedom of speech really is.

  by Rene Rodriguez | Read Full Review »
• [+] Charlotte Observer
  
  75
  Most importantly, Shut Up & Sing is about what happens in the music industry to people who won't.

  by Lawrence Toppman | Read Full Review »