The United States vs. Billie Holiday

2021 131 min ★ 6.5 Music, Drama, History

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."

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Cast

Andra Day

Billie Holiday

Trevante Rhodes

Jimmy Fletcher

Garrett Hedlund

Harry Anslinger

Leslie Jordan

Reginald Lord Devine

Miss Lawrence

Miss Freddy

Adriane Lenox

Mrs. Fletcher

Natasha Lyonne

Tallulah Bankhead

Rob Morgan

Louis McKay

Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Roslyn

Evan Ross

Agent Williams

Details

Director

Lee Daniels

Screenplay

Suzan-Lori Parks

Tagline

"Her voice would not be silenced."

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Production

Lee Daniels Entertainment, Roth-Kirschenbaum Films

Reviews

M

Manuel São Bento

February 22, 2021

★ 3/10

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 agains...

L

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots

March 9, 2021

★ 6/10

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...

T

tmdb28039023

August 28, 2022

★ 1/10

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” actual...