Am not ready to shut up.

Shut Up and Sing  (Barbara Kopple, 2006)

Gawd, five pieces for July. What an embarassment; I badly need some bit of a shake. Work was overwhelming for the past two weeks and my slate doesn't get any clearer as my adept skill at foresighting plus the fact that a 75-peso moviegoing experience in the cinema can be gut-wrenching for low-wage earners like poor me. So I have to dig in my tortured memory and I think some documentary would do this one good.

When I saw the three ladies of Dixie Chicks in that infamous lady-of-liberties pose, I immediately pounced on the bootleg (yet again) copy of Shut Up and Sing directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple, who made Harlan County, USA, a documentary about some mining and labor dispute back in the 70s. She also helmed the sought-after Ella-Enchanted-does-the-striptease debut of Anne Hathaway into so-called mature roles called Havoc which was straight to video (for those who want to see more of Anne's plumpness other than that brief stint in Brokeback Mountain, feast your eyes in this). See, this is what happens after a gaping hiatus. I'm going wayward in my discussion.

Shut Up and Sing chronicles the Dixie Chicks' emotionally-charged, tumultuous political journey in Bush's America where artists are not even spared off. This is an account of what could happen when a seemingly-innocent, jestfully uttered one-liner can change monumentally the career path of one of the most-hailed country acts in America. To cut straight to the core, the political dilemma started in a London concert when lead singer Natalie Maines said: "Just to let you know, we're ashamed that the president of America comes from Texas." Such comment was inevitable in the midst of a massive anti-Bush protest at the height of atrocities in Iraq, but similar anti-war sentiments could not help abate the raging backfire from pro-administration and patriotic Americans who went from burning Dixie Chicks albums to calling the girls names like traitors, whores and other derogatory comments. But what compounded the girls' worse situation was the backlash of their country music roots as country radio stations refused to play their songs after threats from annoyed listeners.

The documentary was called by some critics as a "vanity-project-image-rehabilitation" and self-serving promotional stint but one has to probe of what is really at stake rather than looking at the trying-to-get-back-in-the-scene aspect. The film made it clear that the Chicks stood for what they believe is right and were willing to pay the price, even that of popularity (but what a redemption and vindication it was when they grabbed five Grammys early this year). Kopple along with director Cecilia Peck chronicles the lives of the Chicks as mothers and provide us a glimpse of the backstage life when there is no limelight, when reality sinks in. Somehow, it mirrors a sense of introspection not just with the average American citizen but for every citizen in a nation beset by political forces and the arbitrariness of the laws that protect us.

The First Amendment is such a revered law and I think that most of the constitutional provisions on freedom of speech is patterned like it. Shut Up and Sing may just be the vehicle to check on this supposed freedom -it is thought-provoking and timely. The message should transcend nations where the much-abused word called democracy is still upheld. When the Dixie Chicks returned to the scene, a London theatre, Natalie reiterates the lines; the fervor has never waned. They were greeted by the cheers, this time it seemed much louder and it makes you want to stand up and sing as well that indeed "we're not ready to make nice."