THE US VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY
Andra Day As The Music Icon
The tumultuous life of American singer Billie Holiday is a story that has been powerfully explored in American film and theater. It is a narrative that tells of an important piece of civil rights history, and ends with a tragic celebrity death.
While The United States vs. Billie Holiday jumps around between characters and time periods, there is a timeliness to recounting her life in this present moment. And the casting of Singer-Songwriter Andra Day as Holiday provides the film with further significance. Although she joined Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler) relatively late in pre-production, this is a personal project for Day. Day has never been secretive about citing Holiday as an early (and as a continuing) influence on her vocal style. Moreover, she chose her stage name as an homage to the performer —Day’s birth name is Cassandra Monique Batie.
Under Daniels’ direction, Day gives her first acting performance. Following a screenplay by Pulitzer-Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks (the writer behind Rashid Johnson’s adaptation of Native Son), the film shows Holiday’s civil rights activist, alongside her drug addiction and love affairs. Just as in real life, the film depicts Holiday’s lovers were both men and women. Although her most well known lover was the actress Tallulah Bankhead (portrayed by Natasha Lyonne of Russian Doll), the undercover narcotics agent Jimmy Fletcher (portrayed by Trevante Rhodes of Moonlight) is the lover who creates the most drama.
The true villain of the movie is not Holiday’s addiction or even the racism she faced. Rather (as the title pretty much gives away), it was the U.S. government, specifically the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that pursues Holiday the most venomously. Critically, the movie focuses on how even in the North —even in New York City— Holiday was actively discouraged from singing Strange Fruit. It was her signature song and neither the U.S. Government nor her manager wanted her to continue to stir up constrvery by singing the anti-lynching anthem. The titular case that the U.S. government launched against Holiday was explicitly about finding a way to silence her.
Already, Day has received praise for her raw performance as Holiday. For this film she received a pair of Golden Globe nods in the categories of Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Original Song.
Watch The United States vs. Billie Holiday on Hulu on February 26.
