Film

The United States vs. Billie Holiday 2021

Music, Drama, History
131 min
R

Her voice would not be silenced.

Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."

Music Drama History war on drugs new orleans, louisiana jazz singer or musician ban from profession biography surveillance heroin addiction 1940s 1950s fbi agent

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tmdb28039023on TMDB · Aug 20221/10
In a scene from The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Billie (Andra Day) is about to sing “Strange Fruit” in concert, which Harry J. Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), the first commissioner of the US Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, had forbidden her to do. Behind the audience is a row of uniformed policemen. Billie goes straight for the first verse (even though “Strange Fruit” actually features a long instrumental intro). The cops start moving toward the stage, from which Billie is promptly spirited away by her own camp. This happens after one of Anslinger’s underlings has made it a point that "we can't arrest a negro for singing a song." One can only wonder, then, what those policemen planned to do once they had Billie within reach (I can think of a couple of things, but nothing feasible in front of witnesses). But I digress. “Strange Fruit,” a song protesting the lynching of African Americans, was popularized by Holiday, but originally written by American composer and poet Abel Meeropol – a teensy-weensy detail that the movie conveniently leaves out, perhaps because giving a white man born to Russian Jewish immigrants credit would not jibe with the film’s message. B
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Louisa Moore - Screen Zealotson TMDB · Mar 20216/10
Jazz musician Billie Holiday is a legend; one of the greatest musicians of all time. Most music fans can name their favorite Holiday tune, but none caused more controversy than her song about black lynching, “Strange Fruit.” Screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks builds her story (based on the novel by Johann Hari) around the song, one that many people claimed had un-American lyrics and provoked people “in the wrong way.” “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is a film about racial injustice and censorship surrounding a stirring work of art that gave power to the woman who sang it, as well as the people who heard it. It was a song that ultimately led to events that ruined Holiday’s life. If you are unfamiliar with “Strange Fruit,” it would be beneficial to give it a listen before watching this film. Most of the story is based on the song, which provides a means for director Lee Daniels to start with a focused, small story and build on his larger narrative. You can’t escape the fact that this is yet another tragic artist movie where a once-in-a-lifetime talent destroys her life with drugs, booze, and poor choices. But what makes this more interesting is that Holiday (Andra Day) actually bec
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Manuel São Bentoon TMDB · Feb 20213/10
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Even though I love listening to jazz, I've never been to a concert or a club specific to this type of music. Following this train of thought, I didn't know anything about Billie Holiday's real-life story and her tremendous impact not only in the respective musical genre but also in the fight against the government concerning the evil, shameful act of lynching - which shockingly still occurs today in some countries. Strange Fruit, a poem written by Abel Meeropol, became incredibly controversial due to its brutal lyrics describing the said act, comparing the victim to the fruit of trees. The adapted song has been referenced as the beginning of the civil rights movement, and Andra Day's performance is the standout of a quite disappointing film. I just watched The Mauritanian - a movie "based on true events" - earlier this week, and I wrote in its review that I'm almost always captivated by the main story in this type of film, even if the rest doesn't quite hold up. The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a biographical movie inspired by the singer's life, but besides Day's powerful display
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