THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY

Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Miss Lawrence, Natasha Lyonne, Leslie Jordan

Andra Day won people over with her inspiring anthem “Rise Up” She’s making the leap to the big screen as songstress Billie Holiday in The United States vs Billie Holiday. In 1937, an anti-lynching bill fails to pass through Congress. Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” directly addresses the history of lynching which angered the Feds every time she attempted to perform it in clubs. Garrett Hedlund stars as Harry Anslinger who was the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He had it out for Holiday and wanted to shut her up from performing that song. When he couldn’t arrest her for singing, he decided to use an informant played by Trevante Rhodes to document her drug use and use that as the basis for her arrest.

Here’s my review