Just perfect...

Absolutely the worst movie.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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.

The single point of this documentary is a 3-minute scene showing the Chicks in a counseling session with production legend Rick Rubin. It's set in Mr Rubin's remarkable living room, a unique blend of messy bachelor pad, bohemian lair and underground speakeasy that Woody Allen would have his set designers working overtime to recreate. For one thing, the scene is a lesson on the power of living creatures as trademark props. Small surprise the camera can't take its grainy eye of Mr Rubin's pet, a featureless black licorice bundle of a dog that looks a lot like its master. His canine choice puts the likes of Paris Hilton to eternal shame. Clearly, Mr Rubin is on top of his guru game. But it doesn't stop there. Look closely, then look again. He is big. He is bearded. He is from Brooklyn. He doesn't say much, but when he speaks, it's in a voice so calm and confident the Chicks hang on his lips, lest they miss a single word of wisdom. Obviously, they are not fooling themselves about their future. What worked for Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and the Beastie Boys might just work for them. Provided they get him to spin his magic on their commonplace country candy. They know that if they rise again, it will be his making and his making alone. I am beginning to think Rick Rubin is God.

This was an interesting show from a historical perspective. I watched the movie with great interest and I have never even listened to a Dixie Chick song in full before.Basically, this is a documentary about how the band dealt with the public reaction to a band member's on-stage comments about the president: "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."It follows them from 2003 to 2006 and depicts their personal and public reactions to what happened - and the decisions they made about what to do as a band.Although I knew nothing about them before (and politics aside), I was really impressed with them as human beings. They came across as very respectable individuals - esp. with how they talked about their sponsors and each other.I also learned about how successful and "major" this group is - I never paid attention to them before, but they're on my radar now. This documentary is worth watching for fans and non-fans alike.

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.