Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba
Soundtrack To A Coup D’etat is a powerful and emotive documentary on the overthrow and execution of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba in 1960.
It combines a forensic examination of the role of various participants in the crime with an intense jazz soundtrack. Those involved in the assassination include the Belgian government, the CIA, uranium mining companies and, crucially, the United Nations (UN).
This conjunction may seem jarring but makes sense on two levels.
First, there was a fantastic explosion of revolutionary modern jazz at the beginning of the 1960s, directly identifying with the anti-racist, anti-imperialist movement.
Second, United States spooks were using jazz as a tool to extend their imperial influence, as they were with modern art.
Indeed, they sponsored a Louis Armstrong tour of Congo during the crisis. Armstrong was furious when he found out how he’d been used. But I think most of the other jazz artists here would have been contemptuous of his naivety.
The film is full of footage from the time. Malcolm X, Abbey Lincoln, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Fidel Castro all come out very well.
Dag Hammarskjold, the supposedly liberal UN secretary-general, played a crucial and poisonous role in the coup and the killing. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev is presented as pretty much the hero for reasons I don’t really get, beyond the fact he made a brilliant speech in the UN.
Far more interesting is Andrée Blouin, Lumumba’s powerhouse advisor. Among many other small roles, see the politely reptilian, totally unrepentant head of British intelligence in Congo. They appear to have walked out of a spy novel.
And finally, there is a German Nazi mercenary who I would dismiss as an overdone caricature if this was fiction.
The UN as an organisation played an utterly imperialist role—bypassing anti-imperialist votes in the general assembly—in a way that would become typical.
This makes it hard to understand why Malcolm X had any faith in it challenging US racism. Director Johan Grimonprez’s film is especially long, intense and the weight of information makes it occasionally confusing.
However, you should see it if you can, and if you don’t emerge inspired and very angry you’re not paying attention.
- Soundtrack to a Coup d’Eta, Directed by Johan Grimonprez
