Soundtrack for a Coup d’Etat

What is the first step a country might take when engineering its first postcolonial African coup? Weaponize music and appoint a jazz ambassador. The stylings of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, and more form a backbeat in Grimonprez’s rich essay, which interweaves interviews, archival footage, and more to tell the story of Western nations conspiring against the nascent Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to protect capitalist interests. Featuring a who’s who of mid-century international players, the documentary depicts how the United States, Belgium, and other Western interests plotted first a coup and then the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s first prime minister. The film allows the viewer to connect the dots, holding a mirror to our own era as it harks back to a violent historical chapter written to serve colonizers and capitalists—all of it set to the soundtrack of jazz.