maxgold20 It never ceases to amaze me how successful Americas Propaganda & Curriculum are - with these powerful tools you can make your population a blood thirsty killing machine, that has no compassion or conscience when it comes to mass murder - personally, if I was a Dixie Chick, I would leave the United States of Terror and go live in a place that hates America, that shouldn't be too hard, as the only country that thinks America is a good place to live, is the Americans. It sickens me the amount of blood the average American has on their hands, fancy supporting and enabling hundreds of thousands of civilians being murdered and then trying to kill or silence anybody who finds it distasteful to kill innocent men, women and children for some OIL! I would rather die hated by the rest of the world than support mass murder for the sake of Material Profit! Gandhi said it best when he stated "Even if you are in a minority of one - the TRUTH is STILL the TRUTH!" Long Live the TRUTH! Long live those gentle and peaceful souls who would rather be outcast than join a CULT of MURDER! The warmongers can Kill as many as they want, but those Violent Grunts still haven't worked out that YOU CANT KILL AN IDEA. Long Live the Dixie Chicks, Highly recommended film - "Artists use lies to expose the truth, while politicians use lies to cover it up!"

bexandbarn 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.

isabelle1955 I've never been a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks. Until now. After watching this documentary for the second time, I went out and bought their latest album, mostly out of sheer solidarity. The movie works on many levels. It works because technically, it's a well made and perfectly edited documentary. It works because it's an interesting look at the music industry (specifically the Country Music industry). It's a great portrait of successful women, as they combine careers in the spotlight with family life and the sheer need to stay sane while on the road, in a business notorious for career ruining distractions. It also works because the documentary makers Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck, just happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch a particular moment in American history, a particular mood in certain sectors of American society. If you wanted to imagine a place to foment political controversy and start manning the barricades against the US government, you'd be hard put to think of a less likely place than the Shepherd's Bush Empire, a theatre well to the west of the London West End. It's not the type of place where revolutions are begat. I think I went there a couple of times in my youth, to see Santana (or was that the Hammersmith Odeon..?) But that was the unlikely setting for the Chick's Neo-Radical Natalie Maines to utter those infamous words "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas". This was just before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, and, rather like that other famous Texan under statement "Houston, we have a problem" her words went on to ricochet around the world, well beyond anything she could have imagined. Subjected to bans across the American airwaves, their CDs trodden underfoot, their sponsors fleeing, vilified in the press and ultimately on the receiving end of death threats, the Chicks stuck together, and stuck to their guns. As the controversy boils around them, Peck and Kopple show the Dixie Chicks assembling a new album, touring, and looked after their various kids and husbands (as all good country girls should...) and generally proving that these three delightfully talented women had backbones of steel. It can't be easy going on stage in front of several thousand people, knowing that someone has threatened to shoot you that night. But that's exactly what they did, and I love them for it. It's fascinating stuff!Maines herself seemed utterly astonished that anyone cared what she thought about the president or anything else. As she put it in the movie (and I'm paraphrasing wildly) "If I were Bruce Springsteen, no one would turn a hair if I said that." But she's not Bruce Springsteen. She's a nice Texas girly, and a Country Music star, and apparently they aren't supposed to have original and radical thoughts. It's nice to be able to note that since the film was completed, the Dixie Chicks have won 5 Grammys for the album the controversy gave birth to, and that their careers and energy appear to have been reinvigorated. They found a new producer and maybe a whole new audience. I'd say right now, their popularity is a whole lot higher than that of either GW Bush or the Iraq war. And this particular Classic Rock Neanderthal might even buy another Dixie Chicks album.

Brandice I rented this last night because I absolutely love "Not Ready to Make Nice," their recent single, and I was intrigued by how they dealt with all the flack that arose from Natalie Maines' statement about being ashamed that the President is from Texas, and the documentary is really, really good. I've always liked the Dixie Chicks in spite of their ties to modern country music (something I absolutely despise), and I have to say that I totally love them now. The documentary doesn't make them seem perfect or righteous, and it's very clear that they didn't always know what to say or how best to express themselves with the whole media fiasco, but they really took things head on and they've come out completely on top, especially after their sweep at the Grammys, which happened after the documentary was made.I also had no idea until watching the Grammys that Dan Wilson (of Semisonic) co-wrote the album with them, and he's shown quite a bit in the documentary, which I was really excited about. I think the pairing was an awesome idea and I've always loved Semisonic (I think I had 'Closing Time' on repeat through most of 1999), so that was a really cool aspect of the film for me. :) I've also decided, after seeing how they've departed a bit from the country genre with this album, that I'd like to have the entire album to listen to, so that's my next plan for this afternoon.