Kneecap starts with voiceover narration which – if you’ve read my reviews for a while– you know how often that device doesn’t work. It patches lazy plotting and writing. That’s not the case here — not when the voice is so definitive of the film’s style and rebellious tone. That voice is, of course, Mo Chara, one-third of the Irish rap group, Kneecap. If you aren’t familiar with the Belfast band, they rose to prominence a few years ago by rapping in their native Irish amidst a government that refused to recognize their language. Playing themselves, the trio brings their vibrant surge of musical rebellion to the big screen.
Set in 2019 in Northern Ireland, the film chronicles the band’s beginnings from Belfastian drug dealers raised by Irish freedom fighters to folk heroes, cursing the Brits in their native tongue. Mo Chara and his best friend, Móglaí Bap, grew up speaking Irish, taught to them by the latter’s dad, Arlo (a stoic yet dynamic Michael Fassbender). This was before the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act was passed in 2022, recognizing and protecting the dialect.
Across town, JJ aka DJ Próvaí is living in a modest home with his activist girlfriend, spending his days working as a music teacher by day and an interpreter for the police by night. There, he meets Mo Chara refusing to speak English, each on opposite sides of the law. When JJ decides to not translate everything the younger one says and hides the sheet of acid hidden in his notebook, the two become friendly.
From there, the three keep seeing one another around town before JJ proposes they set some of Mo Chara’s lyrics from his notebook to music. Using old equipment in his garage, the group start taking music seriously gaining a cult following and taking on alter egos, despite the pushback from local police and activists.
Written by all three Kneecap members and director Rich Peppiatt, you can tell great artistic license has been taken in terms of the sequence of events and the exaggeration of the truth. However, the dialogue is smart and biting, whether in Irish or English. Each member is charming in their own way and each joke out of their mouths lands with precision and expertise. This movie is funny, moving, and will ignite audiences everywhere. Excellent and chaotic editing from Chris Gill and Julian Ulrichs only adds to this effect.
When people think of media set during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, films like In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson, Bloody Sunday, and The Wind That Shakes the Barley come to mind. More recently and famously, Belfast and the hit comedy Derry Girls captured media and awards attention. All of those films take place at least 20 years ago. While the Troubles may be over, Kneecap is a great reminder of the oppression and colonialism that still chokes out the everyday liberties of native people all over the world – not just Ireland.
Kneecap is now playing in theaters. Watch the trailer below.