Review: The United States Vs. Billie Holiday

Image courtesy of Hulu.

Lee Daniels' "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" is at its most interesting when it's exploring the relationship between the singer and the iconic "Strange Fruit," which protests the lynching of Black Americans. Unfortunately, that element - which is ever present throughout the film - ends up taking the back seat to the film's almost obsessive detail of the amount of drugs and alcohol Holiday consumed as well as the abuse she suffered at the hands of the men to whom she was married.

Singer Andra Day does a pretty impressive job of disappearing into the role of the singer, and her performance nearly saves the movie, although during much of the film I wished her work could have been utilized for a better film, such as, say, 1972's "Lady Sings the Blues." Even when the material fails her, Day delivers.

One of the issues with the picture is a strange framing device in which an oddly coifed man interviews Holiday for some sort of radio program and asks questions that might provoke a laugh or two, although I'm not 100 percent sure they're supposed to.

There's a compelling story there about the FBI's seeming obsession with arresting Holiday. Although they claim its for drug charges, the real reason - as Holiday points out - is because her singing "Strange Fruit" reminds them of the nation's sins against African Americans. There's also a romance between Holiday and an FBI agent named Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), which I've read is mostly fictionalized, although there was an agent who apparently felt guilty for his role in her persecution.

Mostly, the film focuses on every detail of Holiday's sorrow - scene after scene of her using drugs, being arrested, drinking too much or being punched or slapped by a man - to the extent that it feels less like a biopic, and even less like the pointed commentary it aims to be when it addresses the story of "Strange Fruit," and more like what has been called "misery porn."

"The United States vs. Billie Holiday" isn't a bad movie - while Lee Daniels has made some good movies, such as "Precious" and "The Butler," his "The Paperboy" is a bad one - and it has some strong elements: the music, obviously, is great; Day's performance carries the picture; there's some decent supporting work; it's often funny, despite the gloominess of the entire enterprise; and there are some stylistic touches that work well too. 

But overall, the filmmakers fail to recognize its most compelling element - what "Strange Fruit" means to Holiday and how her singing it in public is what compels the FBI to persecute her - and opts instead to focus on its most pedestrian one (the drugs). It's an average movie that could have been a better one.