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The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Drama, History, Music
Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."
View on IMDbAppeals to viewers drawn to emotionally heavy music biopics about artists confronting institutional racism and personal demons.
- Tone
- bleak, melancholic, tense
- Payoff
- heartbreak, vindication
- Pacing
- steady
- Intensity
- intense
- Structure
- linear
- Themes
- racial persecution, artistic expression, addiction, state surveillance, resistance
- Setting
- mid-twentieth-century America, jazz venues, government offices, and private rooms
Content dimensions
Where to watch
Stream
Hulu
