The United States vs. Billie Holiday

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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 against the government concerning the evil, shameful act of lynching - which shockingly still occurs today in some countries. Strange Fruit, a poem written by Abel Meeropol, became incredibly controversial due to its brutal lyrics describing the said act, comparing the victim to the fruit of trees. The adapted song has been referenced as the beginning of...

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 the wrong way.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a film about racial injustice and censorship surrounding a stirring work of art that gave power to the woman who sang it, as well as the people who heard it. It was a song that ultimately led to events that ruined Holidays life.

If you are unfamiliar with Strange Fruit, it would be benefici...

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 actually features a long instrumental intro).

The cops start moving toward the stage, from which Billie is promptly spirited away by her own camp. This happens after one of Anslingers underlings has made it a point that "we can't arrest a negro for singing a song." One can only wonder, then, what those policemen planned to do once they had Billie within r...