It is from the depths of the Cold War that comes this ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat’ by Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, a film in which jazz, geopolitics and emancipation struggles against colonialism are woven together into a dizzying score. The documentary's merit is that it doesn't give artificial primacy to any of the themes; on the contrary – it shows how, in that era of profound social transformations, they were all simultaneously in the limelight, as had it an insidious plan. This is how great artists like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie could become pawns in the global promotion of the powers in Washington, and how, inevitably, their music could turn into an instrument of cultural propaganda. Sandwiched between the CIA and Nikita Khrushchev, the film focuses on the case of Patrice Lumumba: this charismatic young man quickly rises to the top of the newly independent Congolese state, only to begin – with an even greater speed – to annoy the world's great powers. His revolutionary ideas about the pan-African movement, as much as his fierce opposition to imperialist policies lead to an abrupt end to the political utopia. With this fabulous soundtrack, Grimonprez illuminates a scheme where everything is connected – just as he justly unearths everyone's share of responsibility in the grand picture of post-war history. (Victor Morozov)