Jazz hands: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

GEOPOLITIC / How jazz music played a role in political manoeuvres during the Cold War. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, as the old slogan goes, and the murdered Congolese leader/assassinated civil rights martyr Patrice Lumumba is certainly the latter in Johan Grimonprez’s Sundance debuting Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. Nearly a decade in the making, the veteran director’s (dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, Shadow World, Double Take) cinematic reframing of history is every bit as grand and showy as its title might imply. (Not to mention as overwhelming as a doctoral thesis, albeit a groovy one.)

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