Reflecting on 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday'
Lee Daniels’s Billie Holiday biopic The United States vs. Billie Holiday was released on February 26th, 2021, and my immediate reaction to it was one of discomfort.

This foreign, English-subtitled film dramatizes the effect of the Vietnam War on a single South Vietnamese family, the inner conflict of decisions by each member of the family whether to remain in Vietnam or leave with the imminent advance and fall of Hue and eventual fall of Vietnam. Dat Kho, who's cast includes the beloved Vietnamese inconic anti-war songwriter/poet/artist Trinh Cong Son (1939-2001) who posthumously won the World Peace Music Award in 2004, is a story of the love of family, love of homeland, love of the culture and language of Vietnam and the ethereal love of the ingenue daughter for her fiance, foiled by the antagonistic forces of the ever-present war. A thought-provoking film.
Lee Daniels’s Billie Holiday biopic The United States vs. Billie Holiday was released on February 26th, 2021, and my immediate reaction to it was one of discomfort.
The second film takes us on Peter's journey to be understood.
A film about family and sacrifice... and carnivorous locusts coming after you.
When the world lost Chadwick Boseman on August 28, 2020, we all saw the impact of representation in film. Boseman was not only a Black superhero leading a Black cast in one of the most successful films in history; but his successes paved the way for more, long-overdue diversity in Hollywood.
A teen comedy that nobody wants to see.