‘Soundtrack to a Coup D’État’ recounts the assassination of Patrice Lumumba

Many progressives consider the assassination of the first Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba as among the earliest and certainly best known of the many regime change operations carried out by the U.S. empire. In 1961, at a time when the newly elected anti-colonialist leader promised the Congolese people independence, the U.S., in cahoots with the Belgian colonizers, was working to break away the economically crucial southern mining province of Katanga while at the same time plotting to assassinate this bold charismatic leader.

Now there’s a fresh and extraordinary documentary look at the subject accompanied by a stunning array of jazz music. The newly released film, Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat, by Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, merges the dramatic political history of the African 60s with a rich score of jazz legends from the American 60s, including John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Louis Armstrong, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, to name a few.

The meticulously edited doc examines the coup d’état and the deep involvement of U.S. officials, including the Dulles brothers, Adlai Stevenson and President Eisenhower, who were all tied in with the Belgian elite who profited from the virtual slave labor that extracted oil, rubber and ivory from the Katanga province, the main source of the country’s wealth.

It’s worth recalling that the assassination took place on January 17, 1961, three days before President-elect John F. Kennedy would enter the Oval Office. Coincidence? Might Kennedy have scotched the plot?

The film is loaded with rare footage and interviews from UN and Belgian TV archives which Grimonprez interlaces with breathtaking clips of veteran jazz artists synchronized to the unfolding of historic events. Scenes from the iconic Freedom Now Suite, by Max Roach with vocalist Abbey Lincoln play an important role in accenting the political turmoil during Africa’s struggles for independence. Roach is quoted as saying, “We do use the music as a weapon against man’s inhumanity to man.”

Clips from Dave and Iola Brubeck’s Real Ambassadors jazz musical, inform us about the role Black jazz artists unwittingly played as enforcers of U.S. cultural hegemony in Africa. A rare clip of the Vote Dizzy (Gillespie) campaign video is set to music. Abbey Lincoln wails over Nkrumah’s plans for a United States of Africa. The famous Khrushchev UN speech of him pounding on the podium is set to music, joined in rhythm by UN members clapping hands while Khrushchev moves to the music!  Eric Dolphy riffs with his bass clarinet while the King of Belgium arrives to declare independence. The film is loaded with one amazing montage after another, juxtaposing the artistry of jazz with historic visuals from African history.

As for the dialogue, Grimonprez had access to a Ukrainian translator who worked with him on at least 10 lengthy speeches by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, whose words contribute to the ongoing narration. Shocking statements from violent mercenaries,  prophetic quotes from Malcolm X, historical charts and titles are all utilized to help involve the viewer in this absorbing and educational work of art.

Several other filmmakers have previously addressed this subject, most notably the revered Haitian director Raoul Peck, whose two artistic creations on the same subject, the first being the 1991 meditative documentary, Death of a Prophet (full version on YouTube!), followed by his award-winning drama Lumumba in 2000, set the way for further study. Another relevant film is Mads Brügger’s gripping 2019 documentary Cold Case Hammarskjöld, which investigates the assassination of the second UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld and covers the connection between these two specific crimes of the empire. The history of Belgian King Leopold, the tyrannical dictator responsible for the deaths of 10 million Congolese, is told in a chilling documentary, King Leopold’s Ghost (full version on YouTube).

An interview with Grimonprez offered some telling points about Congolese history and the making of the documentary. Asked how he selected certain jazz clips, he explained, “artists chosen for the film had direct connections with the political events of the day. Louis Armstrong was sent to the Congo and Katanga by one Dulles brother while the other one, Allen, was concocting the coup against Lumumba.” He adds, “Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach were the ones initiating, along with the Women’s Radical Coalition in Harlem, the protest on the 22nd of February, 1961, crashing the Security Council when Adlai Stevenson was announcing the murder of Lumumba. Singer Paul Robeson and poet/writer Amiri Baraka were also present at that UN protest.” He added, “When you look at the jazz ambassadors that were sent, they were a tool within the machinery of the Cold War that the United States sent out, while underneath plotting the coup d’état. So for me, I could not but see music as a protagonist, and it happened to be jazz at that moment that was also sort of involved with the Civil Rights Movement.”

Johan Grimonprez formerly taught at the New York School of Visual Arts and is now at the Belgian Royal Academy, and the Film Institute in Amsterdam. One of his many films, Shadow World, is a riveting study of arms dealers profiting from war, featuring two protagonists, xxx and Chris Hedges. Grimonprez states, “The U.S. defense industry is dictating foreign policy in a sense where it actually has privatized war and would go so far as to even instigate war to continue profiting from the selling of weapons.”

This is a documentary not to be missed!

The film will be available on January 7 on Amazon, AppleTV, Google/Youtube, and Fandango at Home. Here are theaters for now: https://kinolorber.com/film/soundtrack-to-a-coup-d-etat

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CONTRIBUTOR

Bill Meyer

Bill Meyer writes movie reviews for People’s World, often from film festivals. He is a keyboardist at Bill Meyer Music and a current member of the Detroit Federation of Musicians. He lives in Hamtramck, Michigan.