Sad Story of a Jazz Great Recalled in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”

Review by Brad Balfour

The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Director: Lee Daniels
Writers: Suzan-Lori Parks (screenplay), Johann Hari (book, Chasing the Scream)
Cast: Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund

When I decided to view The United States vs. Billie Holiday, I had thought I had gotten it. The singer was a star defining a vocal style that was unique and significant. Little did I realize that the pain she had endured was prettified and whitewashed in 1972’s Lady Sings The Blues — which was a star turn for mega-diva Diana Ross. It certainly offered her a challenging moment, but wasn’t really attached to the brutal reality of Holiday’s all-too-short life (she died at age 44).

Though Ross’s Billie was a Hollywood construct, Lee Daniels fashioned a no-holds-barred effort. As he did in his indie hit Precious, such things as shooting up, serious fucking and brutal physical abuse are detailed throughout this relatively short bio-pic. Thanks to singer Andra Day’s anguished performance, the abrasions the jazz singer suffered weren’t covered over. In this version of her story, Daniels frames it around the constant assault Holiday endured for her 1939 song “Strange Fruit” — a poetic, tragic telling of someone witnessing a lynching which originated from lyrics written by a Jewish poet Abel Meeropol.

Federal Bureau of Narcotics head Harry Anslinger (played in the film by Garrett Hedlund) targeted Billie, instructing her to stop performing the song or she would be constantly harassed. Targeting minorities, especially black Americans, with drug charges, was part of the ultra-racist Anslinger’s strategy to justify the existence and budget of his agency. The brutal abuser was considered “so racist that he was regarded as a crazy racist in the 1920s.”

In his 1964 book, The Protectors, Anslinger included a chapter called “Jazz and Junk Don’t Mix” about Holiday (whom he had handcuffed on her death bed due to suspicion of drug use and possession) and black jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, who both died after years of illegal heroin and alcohol abuse.

This cinematic version of her story is so much more like Lady Day’s life was rather than being some revisionist fantasy. In fact, singer Andra Day did such an excellent job in capturing the raw side of her life with sympathy — but not an air of pity — that her acting debut garnered her a Golden Globe win as best actress.

It’s amazing how Holiday tries her best during her career to make a comeback after comeback despite being targeted by Anslinger’s agency. In fact, Holiday was such an evocative artist that she transforms black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, who heads an undercover sting operation, into a lover, even though it was a tumultuous affair.

Nonetheless, despite its many painful episodes, The United States vs. Billie Holiday also showcases the beauty of Holiday’s performances, how she escaped into the music and, despite a long history of abuse (she had been raped when she was 10 and forced into prostitution), her efforts to maintain her dignity as the star she became. Once again, director Daniels build a positive character out of one ravaged by the assault of mainstream society.