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Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

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Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

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Summary

Filmmaker Johan Grimonprez examines the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Documentary.

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Calum Baker

You might need a notebook handy for this 150-minute essay film about the doomed Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, but it's a dazzling and radical ride. Belgian writer/director Johan Grimonprez traces the brief rise of a "united" independent Africa in the wake of decolonisation in the 1950s and 60s, and the shady machinations by various Western forces that would shortly torpedo any such utopian thinking. It's a story of seized resources that links corporate capitalism with imperial politics, arguing with care and clarity that the eventual abduction and murder of Prime Minister Lumumba was directly tied to Belgian mining interests in the Congo's Katanga province. Grimonprez uses meticulous research and archive footage to tell the story, as well as selected narration from pertinent sources, such as Soviet premier Khrushchev recording his own diaries. All of this is set to the pace of the insistent, political jazz of the era: American artists including Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln reacted to the situation in Africa with protests on the streets and in the studio, and their work provides this grim report its vibrant and ominous backbeat. With its complex mapping of information, this is a far less passive viewing experience than most popular historical documentaries, but that's by design: the issues are difficult and Grimonprez, admirably, refuses to reduce them to pat summaries.

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7.8/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameNarratorMarie DaulneNarratorIn Koli Jean BofaneNarratorPatrick Cruise O'BrienNikita S KhrushchevNikita S Khrushchev

Crew

rolenameDirectorJohan Grimonprez

Details

Languages

English | Arabic | Russian | French | Dutch

Guidance

Violence, swearing, racist language

Formats

Colour

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