Taking the Long Way

I recently saw what I think is one of the best documentary snapshots of the U.S. in the last four years or so. Despite the plethora of offerings that have come since September 11th and Iraq from policy wonks, politicans, and hugely bi-partisan organizations it's a little documentary called Shut up and Sing that won me over. Director Barbara Kopple follows the country/rock/bluegrass (however you want to label them) band The Dixie Chicks from their remarks at a London concert concerning the war and George Bush to the release of their most recent album.

I expected an interesting close examination of what they went through over the last three years dealing with fan and corporate backlash, and indeed that's what I got. However, I think where this documentary has staying power is in how well it captures a huge ideological split in a country that is clearly not comfortable with all of its roots. At one point in the film band member Marty Maguire cannily notes that the reason their comments had such traction in the U.S. is because outwardly they looked like the American heartland. They are young women from Texas who are classified in a musical genre that typically embraces the American ethos--(devoted, rugged, nation loving), and yet their political views in no way meshed with that ideal. It is that very paradox that captures the spirit of the film, and explains so well why their story became so big and ultimately has and will define their future in the music industry. Kopple does a great job of moving back and forth from 2003 to 2005 where they are in the midst of their recording process for their new album. Their fears about how they will be received (and by whom--this actually seems like the key question) lend naturally to revisiting their tour in 2003.

This film also offers a decent amount of new material for people who are already familiar with their story. I thought some of the most interesting parts of the documentary were when we saw band members negotiating their new musical territory with managers, producers, and sponsors. It gives you a great sense of all the little machinations that take place in the music industry in order to produce an album and a tour. The film is clearly interested in how their music is changing, and this is no way divorced from their public evolution. Their shift from country to rock is as much a political choice as an aesthetic one (although the common catch-all term for their music is probably pop) We get little slices of Rick Rubin's calm genius in L.A. as he advises them on their "new sound". The film definitely ends on a bittersweet note with bank members acknowledging what is one of the more burning questions surrounding the trio--how Marty and Emily dealt with the backlash surrounding comments that they didn't make nor encouraged. Their response is both courageous and real, because as unprepared as they were for what would follow those comments they in no way apologized for lead singer Natalie's choice to say them. It's a story that could've easily gone the way of most Behind the Music stories, but instead you're left impressed as hell with the kind of voices that can come out of America.