Run time: 150 mins

Politics and music collide in this passionate and propulsive documentary about the assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.

The events surrounding the Democratic Republic of Congo’s declaration of independence are laid out  to a soundtrack of 1960s jazz. Juxtaposing the story of the murder with a musical tour of Louis Armstrong might be tall order, but filmmaker Johan Grimonprez weaves these threads deftly.

It’s as gripping as any spy novel: how Belgium, forced to concede Congolese independence, poisoned it through a divide-and-rule strategy that saw the Katanga province (which happened to contain the country’s most valuable mineral deposits) secede in turn from Congo. Backed by a United States determined to hold on to Congo’s uranium, UN intervention to maintain the peace became the enforcement of American interests – with fatal consequences for Lumumba.

This music presents a commentary on Lumumba’s struggle and defeat but also has a tragic dimension of its own: musicians were convinced to tour Africa and Asia as cultural outreach – activities that later turned out to be CIA-backed PR exercises. “America’s weapon was a blue note in a minor key,” ran one report. Unmissable viewing.