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‘The United States vs Billie Holiday : Who Was the Real Harry Anslinger?
Hulu’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is now streaming Samson Amore | March 1, 2021 @ 7:12 PM Last Updated: March 1, 2021 @ 9:25 PM
In Lee Daniels’s Billie Holiday biopic “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” the singer’s trials and tribulations during the 1940s are reflected through the film’s clear main villain, Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner Harry J. Anslinger.
Anslinger, portrayed in the film by James Hedlund, is depicted as a racist, crusading fanatic who used his office and his proximity to power to ruthlessly harass Holiday throughout her career.
Updated on Mar 1, 2021 5:46 PM EDT Published on Mar 1, 2021 5:33 PM EDT
Late into Lee Daniels’ new Billie Holiday biopic, Andra Day, as the late singer, steps onto a stage, alone. In the hushed venue, Day walks up to a mic, donning the singer’s trademark gardenias in her hair.
The camera lingers on Day’s face as she sings the opening lines to “Strange Fruit,” a signature Holiday song that protests lynchings of Black people. The accompanying music doesn’t start until after Day sings, in a Holiday-like rasp, of “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze.” The movie cuts away from Day’s performance only one time, to show an audience that’s either enthralled or horrified or both.
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