Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024)
January 23, 2025 9:12 AM - Subscribe
Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba
NYTimes:
Archival footage and audio of interviews with agents, in some cases many years later, underline the point: Art was art, but it was also a useful tool for machinations the artists quite publicly opposed.
That is the paradox at the core of argument that “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” makes: Power takes many forms, some of which are invisible to the naked eye, and what you can’t see can be the most consequential. Telling such a story requires the multisensory detail cinema provides. Layering a voice telling us one thing over an image showing us another, all while jazz plays and texts appears, can feel a bit like audiovisual overload. Provoking a bit of confusion is the point. Covert power relies on misdirection, and it is only by looking back that we can sometimes make sense of what happened.
The film has been nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary category.
Although technically a documentary, the film has the pacing and soundtrack of a tightly written thriller.
NYTimes:
Archival footage and audio of interviews with agents, in some cases many years later, underline the point: Art was art, but it was also a useful tool for machinations the artists quite publicly opposed.
That is the paradox at the core of argument that “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” makes: Power takes many forms, some of which are invisible to the naked eye, and what you can’t see can be the most consequential. Telling such a story requires the multisensory detail cinema provides. Layering a voice telling us one thing over an image showing us another, all while jazz plays and texts appears, can feel a bit like audiovisual overload. Provoking a bit of confusion is the point. Covert power relies on misdirection, and it is only by looking back that we can sometimes make sense of what happened.
The film has been nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary category.
Although technically a documentary, the film has the pacing and soundtrack of a tightly written thriller.
Great film and soundtrack. Really enjoyed it, even if it was a grim from a colonialism/imperialism perspective. Also, could probably do with a CW for an on-screen execution; as the film says, the days were grim back then and as a journo you could pay some $$ and have an execution for your story via rogue mercs & soldiers on a rampage.
posted by phigmov at 3:07 PM on January 24
posted by phigmov at 3:07 PM on January 24
Great montages proving an old idea that juxtaposition can reveal meaning, fun and depressing
posted by Mngo at 7:48 PM on January 31
posted by Mngo at 7:48 PM on January 31
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posted by growabrain at 10:32 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]