The United States vs Billie Holiday
Directed by Lee Daniels
In cinemas now
In 1937, Communist trade unionist, Abel Meeropol wrote a song in response to a newspaper photograph of a ghastly lynching of two Black men in the United States South.
Billie Holiday, who was already an established jazz star, adopted the song,
Strange Fruit and turned it into an anthem.
Holiday would sing it at the end of her set at Harlem s Cafe Society, the first racially integrated night club in the US, which attracted a left-wing crowd.
All the stage lights were extinguished, the waiters would stop serving drinks and the crowd would be hushed. A spotlight would suddenly illuminate only Holiday s face as she began singing.
Na pele de Billie Holiday, Andra Day floresce como atriz
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J.P. Devine Movie Review: ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’
Great jazz singer’s life torturously lived, difficult to watch.
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Andra Day portrays Billie Holiday in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Takashi Seida/Hulu photo
Director Lee Daniels (“The Butler” 2013) brings to the screen a brutal, painful two hours and 10 minutes of the life of the great jazz singer, Billie Holiday, in his film “United States vs. Billie Holiday.”
Following close behind the recent “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” George. C. Wolfe’s screen version of August Wilson’s play, rips back the curtain on the ugly past of many of the music world’s great black performers.
The queer, Black classic that everyone in the LGBTQ community deserves is here. We rarely get a serious insight into an actual queer black life, lived on its own terms against all odds, to become the shining (and imperfect) standard by which all others are judged, on every level.
The United States v. Billie Holiday, as a film, is an indictment, instructional guide and spiritual love letter rolled into one. Director Lee Daniels has once again created a masterpiece that is factual and will enhance and extend his legacy, creating stars out of hard-working, multi-talented and multitasking actors and actresses of color. Daniels has garnered performances from them that win awards and create legendary careers that contribute to and critique American pop culture.
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