NOT READY TO MAKE NICE: The new film Shut Up And Sing has already spawned controversy due to its political content, an image which its promotional materials play up. The thing is, the political material in the film is the least interesting part of it. Either we've heard it all before (the story of what Natalie Maines said and the reaction of country radio has been more than amply told) or we resort to broad stereotypes (look at the hick protesting the "Dixie Sluts!") when the film focuses on the political.
However, that's not the whole film (or even most of it)--there's also a focus on the personal and the musical. How does the best-selling band in the world (which the Dixie Chicks were from 1998-2002, selling 28 million copies of their first three albums) manage to reinvent itself from a band that sings other people's songs to a band that writes all their own music? From a twangy country bluegrass group to a country rock group? Those are the interesting questions (be they about the Dixie Chicks, about the Beatles circa Let It Be, or about R.E.M. circa Up), and the documentary doesn't answer them (or try to)--instead, it takes you inside the creative process that led to the creation of Taking The Long Way, and lets you try and figure it out for yourself, and that's far more interesting than preaching to the choir and hectoring those with whom you disagree.
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