Written by Marina Veličković, English language and literature teacher
Our next film club session takes us to 1940’s jazz scene through the film titled The United States of America versus Billie Holiday, a biopic telling the story of Billie Holiday.
Billie Holiday, or Lady Day as she was also known, was a well-known name on the music scene. Her mighty voice and performances earned her popularity. However, her fame and success was marred by her confrontations with the American government officials. One of her most famous songs bears the name Strange Fruit and it was inspired by African Americans who were lynched. The song became a symbol of civil-rights movement. She performed the song which actually landed her in trouble with the FBI. Agents were constantly watching her, trying to get something on her to lock her up and harassing her whenever the opportunity appeared. She became an enemy of the state.
Lady Day’s life was nothing but easy. She had a tough childhood, abusive men surrounded her, using her and stealing money from her, she fought drug addiction, and FBI officers had their eye on her. She experienced ups and downs in her life and this film is just one of few which try to present the life story of Lady Day in the best possible light.
The movie is paying tribute to one of the best jazz performers and stresses her defiance to obey the authorities and bow her head to injustices and oppression. She was bold despite the suffering and she refused to be degraded. Besides being a biopic, the film is an account of Black activism and the forces that were trying to suffocate it. It shows art as a tool of activism. Why were the authorities so afraid of a song and the voice transmitting it? Why did she do the thing she did? What was happening in the 1940’s to trigger all these events?
Let’s discuss this and other questions on Tuesday 29th June at 19:00 at our next Film club session.
