From the Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic, urgent documentary features musical performances by jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone who in the ‘60s doubled as cultural ambassadors to Africa. Their roles as unknowing decoys in the CIA’s plot to assassinate Congo’s prime minister Patrice Lumumba threads through this deeply researched, richly textured tapestry — which scrambles the simplistic good guys/bad guys narrative, foregrounds powerful women behind the revolution and sheds new light on a global conspiracy playing out often right in view. (Dir. Johan Grimonprez, Belgium /France /Netherlands 2024, 150m)
