It was the diss heard ‘round the world. Natalie Maines, the lead singer of country super group the Dixie Chicks, made a back handed, off the cuff remark regarding US President George W. Bush and his insistence on going to war with Iraq. “We’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas,” is what she said to an English crowd, simply and plainly, and shortly after a million people marched against the war in London. In an already politically charged atmosphere, Maines, and by proxy bandmates Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, lit a match and started a firestorm that may have ended their careers.



Everything, from that (apparently) Earth-shattering moment to the mighty return of the Chicks with their new album Taking the Long Way, was captured by the cameras of Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA)and Cecilia Peck. The film unblinkingly follows how the band’s hit single “Travelin’ Soldier” tanked following Maines’ remarks and how the trio tried to bounce back public relations-wise when the heavily conservative country radio stations in the US started jettisoning “Travelin’ Soldier” from airplay.



This is probably the most interesting part of the documentary, although Kopple and Peck favour a shifting narrative trading back and forth between more recent developments and what happened three years earlier. But the behind-the-scenes stuff hits all the right notes by highlighting the unknown story. We all remember the pictures of refuse bins being set-up for patriotic Americans to toss out their Dixie Chicks records, but we never knew how deep that really cut. Maines reacts defiantly, that if the radio stations and conservative country fans were going to react this way to an off the cuff remark, then the band was better off. Robison and Maguire are more sedate, believing that they should not be so quick to abandon the fans that got them where they are.



Interestingly, against the backdrop of a fracturing American consciousness, the band never stands on the brink of break-up. At the heart of the film is a triad of women who, despite managerial disagreements, are together till the end. Do Robison and Maguire wish that Maines hadn’t had her lip slip? A little bit, but given their public lynching you hardly deride them a little 20/20 hindsight on the matter. But seeing the conversations is interesting, and seeing Maines’ armour chink when the band receives a threat on their lives adds tremendous humanity and humility to her position, which actually does more to embolden her than cause her to retreat.



Of course, there’s an undercurrent in the unspoken commentary about how ridiculous this whole proceeding seems only three years hence. The fact of the matter is that all the boycotts and all the threats had the opposite effect on the fortunes of the Dixie Chicks as they’re exploring new heights of creativity and a whole new fan base that embraced them. And as for that George W. Bush kid, let’s just say that there’s a whole lot of people now who are just outright ashamed he’s from anywhere in the continental United States.



As for the movie that chronicles it all, let’s just say that it speaks for itself. But it probably won’t speak to anyone out there who’s of the opinion that free speech is fine, only if you don’t do it publicly; exactly as the Founding Fathers intended.