I have been a fan of Billie Holiday for quite some time, so I jumped at the opportunity to watch “The United States vs Bill Holiday”. Especially because I wasn’t able to watch Lady sings the blues (which is a popular movie on Billie Holiday).
*SPOILER ALERT*
So this is the review of “The United States vs Billie Holiday”.
THE PLOT
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics launches an undercover sting operation against jazz singer Billie Holiday.
THE ACTING AND THE CASTING
The casting was great. The cast of United States vs Billie Holiday acted their roles so well that I had to go read about the other characters. Tyler James Williams portrayal of Lester Young “Prez” was really well done. Trevante Rhodes playing the role of Jimmy Fletcher made me google the man. Da’Vine Joy Randolph portraying Roslyn was fascinating to watch, genuinely felt like Roslyn was one of Billie Holiday’s few genuine friends. Andra day was excellent, her acting was top notch. Also, Andra got the coarse, deep voice and excellent of Billie Holiday. When I was watching I kept thinking of how much Andra Day sounds so much like Billie holiday.
THE SCENES, COSTUMES AND THE MAKE UP
The scenes in the movie were so realistic. I felt like I was living with Billie and her crew while watching this movie. The makeup and the costume were quite good, a lot of the characters did look like the actual real-life people. The costumes were so so good. The dresses that Andra Day wore were genuinely exquisite. She looked phenomenal every time she was shown on the stage.
THE STORY
Let me start by saying Billie had TERRIBLE TASTE in men. She just kept on jumping from fry pan to fire. I just kept on saying “ma’am why this?”. She was either with physically abusive men or men that introduced her to drugs, honestly just a genuine shit show.
Another thing is I did not realize how much Billie Holiday used drugs. She was more on drugs than she was off it at least from this movie’s portrayal. The movie hinted at her using drugs because of the trauma of being raped. Seems like she was using it to fill an emotional void. She honestly looked like she needed help. Felt like I should give her a big hug because she seemed to be hurting a lot.
Up until this movie, I definitely didn’t know much about Jimmy Fletcher. This movie highlighted Jimmy Fletcher the black FBI agent that was used to bring down Billie Holiday. It was a story I wasn’t aware of, so it was fascinating to watch. Also, the movie explored the line black people tread in following the system and being for black people.
I enjoyed the way the movie explored the side of Billie Holiday that made her seem like “one of the godmother of civil rights” to some people. Exploring the impact of her song “strange fruit” and why the government didn’t want her to sing it brught out her civil rights side.
Side note: I think Strange fruit is one of the most brilliant songs in the world. Her singing this song shined a light on lynching and provided fuel to a movement.
THE FBI
This movie reminded me of how much J Edgar Hoover was out for blood when it came to attacking voices of dissent. The FBI went after every “heterodox” ideas, unfortunately Billie Holiday seems to have been caught in the cross fire.
THE TRAUMA
This movie had a lot of trauma. It was hard to know if this was Lee Daniel being Lee Daniel because he is the king of trauma porn or it was the actual story. One thing for sure is this movie is filled with different forms of trauma.
At the end of the day, it wasn’t a bad movie. It’s a 7/10. It gave me a better insight into the Billie Holiday story.
To read more on the Billie Holiday story, click the link below
https://www.biography.com/musician/billie-holiday
