SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D'ETAT

In scope, inventiveness and ambition this impressive, monumental yet flawed documentary, tackling the legacy of colonialism head-on, trumps just about any feature film of the past year.

In all of his previous projects Belgian documentarian Johan Grimonprez has shown a style that feels like a jamming session of both contrasting and convergent images, but only now, in Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, has he found the perfect balance between sound, image and theme.

The main focus of the film is the run-up to the independence of Congo in 1960 and the consequent Western fears that newly elected prime minister Patrice Lumumba will be a disruptive force in their stronghold on Africa’s vast natural resources.

Grimonprez is unflinching in his critique on the capitalist, colonialist approach of Belgium, the CIA and the United Nations during this explosive period, as he unravels the eventual murder of Lumumba with tension, indignation and surprisingly effective wry humour. The intercutting of archive material with well-chosen, immaculately researched on-screen quotes and pulsating jazz music gives the film a continual forward momentum, which ensures the 150 minute running time flies by without any lulls.

The main achievement of Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is however how effortlessly it broadens its scope to say not only something meaningful about the Congolese situation but about the civil rights movement, female emancipation, pan-Africanism and half a dozen other major societal shifts of the era. Simply for mostly pulling off this grand ambition the film deserves plaudits.

That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have its flaws. The attempts to strike a bridge to the modern colonialism of companies like Tesla and Apple mostly feels strained (a missed opportunity), while the self-interest of the Soviet Union and other communist countries concerning Congo is sugar-coated compared to that of the Western countries. Still, this doesn’t detract from the passionate power of the film, which deserves to be mentioned as one of the defining, most thought-provoking pictures of the year.

release: 2024

director: Johan Grimonprez

starring: Patrice Lumumba, Nikita Khrushchev, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone