https://blackgirlnerds.com/sundance-2024-review-johan-grimonprezs-essayistic-documentary-soundtrack-to-a-coup-detat-explores-link-between-jazz-and-politics/

Writer and director Johan Grimonprez, known for impressionistic documentaries like Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade and Double Take, returns to the Sundance Film Festival with his latest documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat.

First announced in 2021, the Belgian-born filmmaker sheds light on the overthrow and assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, the dark history of the United Nations weaponizing jazz artists and their music, and so much more. It opens with drums to establish a rhythm of bebop, rumba, and jazz music that continues to flow throughout the film as it does throughout these events in history.

The decolonization of the Congo and the subsequent violence are seemingly at the center of this kaleidoscopic 150-minute-long exploration. However, there are many points of focus and multiple protagonists, including the huge part music itself plays. Grimonprez told Variety, “Music is an actor of this global story. Louis Armstrong was there for the first months of Congolese independence, while Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln took inspiration from the independence movement in Africa.”

Grimonprez presents a collage of diverse perspectives from activists, politicians, musicians, and leaders, told through images, archival footage, and various excerpts from Andrée Blouin’s memoir “My Country, Africa” (narrated by Belgian-Congolese musician Marie Daulne aka Zap Mama), In Koli Jean Bofane’s “Congo Inc.,” Conor Cruise O’Brien’s “To Katanga and Back” (narrated by his son Patrick), and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s audio memoirs. Other important figures featured include musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, Melba Liston, and activist Malcolm X. 

The long-overlooked Blouin acted as an advisor to post-colonial leaders in Africa, including becoming chief of protocol for Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grimonprez explained that “because she was a woman, she was actually written out of history.” Both were labeled communists because of their influential advocacy for the Pan-African movement, which posed a threat to colonial power. 

King Baudouin of Belgium and the Eisenhower administration agreed that Lumumba needed to go in order for them to remain in control of the majority vote of the Global South. The CIA led a coup to overthrow Lumumba in September 1960. In an effort to improve the image of the United States, jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong was deployed to the Congo in October. Of course, the legendary musician was completely unaware he was being used as a smokescreen.

Lumumba was executed in Katanga in January 1961, and on February 15, 1961, writer Maya Angelou, singer Abbey Lincoln, and drummer Max Roach, protested his murder at a UN Security Council meeting, along with about sixty other shouting demonstrators. Excerpts from Angelou’s The Heart of a Woman appear on screen: “On Friday, our women are going to the United Nations.” Set to the sounds of Roach’s furious drumming (part of Max Roach’s “Freedom Now” suite, which opened the film), we see the chaotic, chilling scene unfold with emboldened text of the protestors’ declarations. 

As someone who wasn’t previously familiar with the coup or Lumumba’s murder, Soundtrack is eye-opening and intrigued me enough to do my own research to better understand the full scope. Grimonprez’s ability to craft a film using extensive research, archival footage, and first-hand experiences is an impressive feat, not to mention the vibrant aesthetic. 

However, the film holds an overwhelming amount of information to digest — the importance of the West’s access to mine uranium in Congo (notably used for the atomic bomb), the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev infamously banging his shoe on a table at the General Assembly, nationalist movements, and the continued exploitation of present-day Congo. Between its nonlinear structure and the several historical events and important figures entwined, it’s easy to get lost in it all, even with the bold lettering of quotes and excerpts.

Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat is a visually engaging, dizzying lesson in the history of global politics and its fascinating connection to jazz. Without conventional omniscient narration, it can be hard to follow what unfolds on screen, especially if you’re not even vaguely familiar with the subject matter. There’s a lot of story to tell, which could’ve been easier to absorb as a three-part docuseries. Even with its high energy, this stylish, almost avant-garde documentary essay’s 150-minute runtime will likely feel a little too long for some audiences’ attention spans. 

Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat had its World Premiere on January 22 as part of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition.