So next, Shut up and Sing.

Interestingly enough, I saw my film teacher at the screening (which was at 2:30 on a Friday when he's supposed to be in class), which totally surprised me, cause its not even like he took his wife or anything, he was just there alone--that part made sense, cause he's kinda a loner film snob, who wears homeade punk rock t-shirts, and lots of black, with his dark hair always falling over his eyes, kinda dude. Anyways, I was particularly intrigued to see him there assuming he'd never heard anything about the Dixie Chicks, though it does make some sort of sense since its a documentary, and he's a documentary filmaker, that he would go check out all the other docs at the festival.

Anyways!

Audience Impression: Well, I liked the film so much that I ended up seeing it both times it screened, and there were some slight differences in the audiences. Mostly, as you would assume a Chicks concert would be, the crowd was full of older women, probably averaging in their 30s-40s, and a few younger women in their 20's and then any dudes that were there were either 40 with their wife, or surprisingly a few collegiate single dudes there. Probably film geeks or closet dixie chicks fans. The 2nd go round was at 9:30 on a Saturday night and there were alot more men there, and also an older crowd.

The first time I was mainly focused on the content in the aspect of watching it as a fan, but the second time I was impressed with more of the filmaker's techniques, the narrative storyline, etc. The way its edited keeps it interesting the whole time, and makes it different than a lot of music documentaries. I don't wanna give anything away too much about it, but much respect to Barbara Coppel and Cecilia Peck, and their crew.

They did a great job of taking the 'fly on the wall' approach, which in addition to all of the surreal events taking place almost makes it seem like some movie about a fictional band and controversy they go through, because you watch and just think, "how could that have really happened?" even though you remember hearing things in the news, and then seeing a lot of that same media coverage in the film also reassures you how very real it is/was. It's definitely a thought provoking film. If it has that kind of shock in it now, I wonder what it'll be like to watch it in like 20 years. Bouncing back and forth between 2003 and 2006, it's interesting to watch these women go from disbelief to acceptance to defiance as the whole saga plays out.

I think alot of it was helped by the fact that the chicks were already used to having cameras following them around for quite a while before the incident (they were filming the tour for a dvd for fans, and extras to put on the website) so after they started hearing about this backlash and stuff going on in America while they were touring Europe, so they just decided to keep the cameras around, and then later Barbara Coppell approached them about filming, and brought in her crew to film them over the next three years, and since the Chicks already owned all the other footage from before and during the actual incident, Coppell was able to combine that with her footage for this film.

This film isn't a 90 minute rant on how the Bush comment ruined everything for the Chicks. In fact the girls asked that the film not be made to be flattering to them (otherwise I'm sure they wouldn't have agreed to be shown as much as they are without makeup--which is pretty much the entire time), but to do what the genre does, which is "document", which it does, and by the end its amazing to find three women who are actually glad for what they went through, because it made them all stronger/better people, closer as friends and a band, and also gave them back a new fire as artists with creating their music, and the drive to prove themselves, because any new fans they gain or new achievements and successes from this point on will all be more honest and deserved, than just riding the wave of their previous success. Which is pretty huge mind you. Fact Check: The Dixie Chicks are the best selling female band of all time, and the first band to ever have 3 albums in a row debut at number one among other records they set for sales, and especially for country music. So to go from there, and lose all radioplay,lose video play on CMT, and not be invited to any award shows, pretty much hides them entirely from a potential audience not including internet. And it's the right of stations to choose what they want to play, but when corporate bans are coming down from headquarters like Clearchannel and Cumulus (both of which lost lawsuits for this) then the Program Director and Stations themselves aren't making an independent decision for what their audience wants to hear.



I also have to add that I was extremely impressed with the chicks themselves and getting to see how they were dealing with everything that was happening to them. I have such admiration for these three women. The way there was no second wasted on questioning their integrity, or the idea of risking everything (lives/career) for standing up what they believed in, even though they didn't set out to make a statement, they were just thrown into this political environment suddenly, but they didn't hesitate to stand by their comment, because they should be able to say it whether the country agreed at the time or not. Plus, apologies are for lapses of character, not revelations of it. Having to apologize for what they believed or who they are was not an option. I'm sure they could have easily gotten out of the whole thing had they decided to lie and say that Natalie was a little drunk, and then say that she went to rehab. America would have loved her for that, they love fallen heroes, and all would have been forgiven. But of course, she wasnt drunk, so people won't forgive her for meaning what she said.

I also had no idea they turned down a deal with AEG for $26 million, who wanted to buy out their current tour, so that they would get the profits if the tour sold out, and take the losses if it didn't, and the chicks would regardless have $26 million. But as you might see in this clip they didn't like the idea of selling off their risks either (which in hindsight would have been a better decision, because the tour ended up not selling a lot of venues, and they've lost alot of money since then). Although the clip is edited, because I remember Natalie dropping a few f-bombs during that part in the movie.




Not only that but these ladies are hilarious. I mean, I knew that they were fairly witty and obviously intelligent, but they had me surprised throughout the whole thing. I still couldn't tell if Natalie was joking or not when she made certain phone call the day of the Dallas concert concerning the death threat. And it was funny, but also ironic, when she's looking at the picture of the man who said he's going to kill her, and barely hesitates before saying that he's cute. The Martie moment was also great (which I can't ruin, but was greatly revealing about her character, and very touching to see someone in such a genuine human moment). I just love and respect them even more now. It was also interesting to watch a documentary getting almost as many laughs and cheers as a comedy like Borat, haha. For a film stemming from a misunderstood moment of personal expression, it does a fantastic job at entertaining as well as defending the values this country was built on, free speech being the major player.

Oh and side note, In my film class today my teachers all giddy and excited like a little girl and starts talking about how he doesnt want to go straight into discussion for class, cause he saw "the greatest film this weekend!" and I figured, okay, so he's a filmaker and part of the series I'm sure he got into a bunch of movies for free all weekend, so who knows what he's talking about, but then he starts telling us not to judge him and he can't believe he's going to say this, and goes on to praise how amazing Shut Up and Sing was, encouraging people to go see it to the point of even if they get violently ill anytime they hear the Dixie Chicks music, saying that regardless of the horrible physical reactions, they should still see it, because even though their music is obviously pretty prominent in it, that it's still tolerable, haha. But that if you like them, then it's like you're birthday!

Anyways, the cool thing is that even though the film is on a pretty limited release, he said that if it doesn't make it to St. Louis, then he plans on getting it for the Film Series here (being he's the director of the series and all, I'm taking that as a pretty sure bet that if he wants it he'll get it, so I'm excited).


tommorrow: Death of a President, and The Fountain (featuring the amazingly hot Hugh Jackman, and the always lovely Rachel Weisz).

BTW, if anyone wants a free "The Fountain" mini poster, let me know, I have a couple extras.

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