SYNOPSIS:
Join the Dixie Chicks on a rocking, rousing comeback journey,
through three unforgettable years in the life of the #1-selling
female band of all time. Shut Up & Sing takes you beyond
backstage into the Dixie Chicks' dressing rooms, homes and recording
studio where they plan and create the hit album "Taking
the Long Way". Defying their critics, the Dixie Chicks
stick up for themselves, stick together and rock their way back
to the top of the charts.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Because this reviewer isn’t a law student,
he doesn’t know whether he will get into trouble if
he used an actual celebrity’s name to quote an example.
So to play it safe, let’s just imagine that a 'very
popular local singer' scoffs the Singapore government for
its, hmm, decision to increase transport fares (again!) during
his/ her performance at the National Day Parade. You can imagine
the uproar this is going to bring about. This is the kind
of trouble American country music group The Dixie Chicks got
into in 2003, and as a result of that, we have this interesting
documentary which never made it to the local cinemas.
"We
don't want this war, this violence; and, we're ashamed the
President of the United States is from Texas." This was
the statement lead vocalist Natalie Maines said during a concert
10 days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. From then on, the
three female band mates were perceived as being un-American,
received a slew of enduring hate mail, and were subjected
to other attacks like the destruction of their albums as a
protest against the comments. The 92 minute picture follows
the band’s journey to continue their lives as artistes
and become true musicians who stay true to their opinions.
As
a documentary, this one provides an insight to each of the
band mate’s lives. You see how a baby gets born, you
see how a family bonds together, you see how their passion
for music never dies. For us living in this part of the world,
some political issues may not be that pertinent to us, but
as the documentary progresses, you get a sense of how much
it means for an opinionated American to have his/ her voice
heard.
It
certainly helps if you have heard the multiple Grammy Award
winning group’s genre of music. The bluegrass and country
music isn’t your usual radio friendly pop tunes, so
this may not be the typical youngster’s cup of tea.
Songs like "The Long Way Round" and "Lubbock
and Leave It" appear in the documentary, and even if
you are not that into politics, this picture makes for good
“listening” – it helps to increase your
knowledge on the kinds of music that is out there.
The
documentary may also have you reflecting whether this kind
of public uproar will happen on our sunny island. Will that
'very popular local singer' suffer the same fate as The Dixie
Chicks if this scenario happened here? Will he/ she stand
up for his/ her rights and remain unfazed? Will we, the rather
apathetic Singaporeans, even bother to boycott his/ her music
and actions? These are indeed questions worth pondering.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 disc contains no special features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer is somewhat acceptable (the distributor
watermark which appears every once in a while is a tad disturbing
though), while the movie is presented in its original English
audio track.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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