Kino Lorber’s “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État,” a vibrant, kinetic documentary from acclaimed Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, has been nominated for an Academy Award for best feature documentary.
This could work well as a jazzy album on its own, but it, in fact, recounts events leading up to prominent jazz musicians’ protest in 1961 at the United Nations rebelling against the suggested CIA-backed killing of Democratic Republic of the Congo leader Patrice Lumumba.
This Sundance award winner tells the story of the U.S. government’s jazz ambassador program in Africa and the ClA’s involvement with the assassination of Congolese leader Lumumba.
A provocative, real-life Cold War thriller, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” intertwines jazz, espionage and colonialism – constructing a riveting historical rollercoaster that illuminates the political machinations behind Lumumba’s assassination, while uncovering a scandal whose urgency is still resonant in today’s geopolitical climate.
Lumumba was a stalwart of Pan-African and anti-colonial movements, and he was tortured and murdered shortly after the formation of the first government of independent Congo—which had been under previous Belgium rule.
It was simply a military coup that was supported by Belgium, the United States and powerful mining interests. The Congo was rich in uranium, a valued mineral in the production of America’s atomic bombs.
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’s” director Grimonprez explains that Lumumba’s assassination was “the ground zero of how the West was about to deal with the riches of the African continent.”
The result is a revelatory documentary richly illustrated by eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, speeches from Lumumba himself, and a veritable canon of jazz icons.
Alan Dulles was the CIA director, and American jazz greats chimed in with disgust about Louis Armstrong’s request for them to travel to Africa when race relations were not perfect at home.
African artist Miriam Makeba was quoted in the doc, regarding the state of affairs in the Congo: “Ridiculous to say a country doesn’t exist until the white man says he discovered it.”
On June 30, 1960, the Congolese gained freedom, and five days later a mutiny broke out with the African soldiers resisting their white officers.
The Congo entered the United Nations in September, together with 15 other newly independent African countries. To the annoyance of many Western countries, this tipped the balance of voting power in the UN General Assembly to the newly expanded Afro-Asian bloc.
“Of course, this was the moment right after many African countries gained independence and had just become part of the UN. They called it the Year of Africa,” Grimonprez says. “That was a political earthquake because together, they could gain the majority vote, which freaked out the West, and mainly the United States.”
Months later in January 1961, Lumumba attempted to join his supporters but was captured en route by state authorities and tortured and executed by the separatist Katangan authorities of Moïse Kapenda Tshombe, a Congolese businessman and politician.
The U.S. State Department swings into action, sending Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup.
Jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, and Khrushchev bangs his shoe, 60 yelling protesters throw punches, slam their stilettos and provoke a skirmish with unprepared guards as diplomats look on in shock.
More than 40 years later, Belgium formally apologized for its role in the execution.
This brutal, scandalous history is brought to vivid memory through pulsating drums, piercing horns and songs of protest from Nina Simone.
The film melds freedom in the Congo against freedom in the United States. For example, Congolese representatives demand freedom in Brussels to the sound of Thelonius Monk’s “Just a Gigolo.”
Other songs featured are “Wild is the Wind” by Simone, “Lullaby of the Leaves” by Dizzy Gillespie, “Black and Blue” by Armstrong and “Freedom Rider” by Art Blakey, among others.
Look for the documentary “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État” on streaming apps and watch the Oscar’s ceremony on Sunday, March 2, to see if this riveting documentary beats out the others.
Take a look at the trailer: https://tinyurl.com/3k9uurd2.