Kneecap

NORTHERN IRELAND, 2024. 

Available on streaming platforms. 

Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt, Kneecap is the fictionalised biopic of the hip-hop band of the same name that took Northern Ireland by storm since the late 2010s and have been garnering worldwide success with their catchy tunes and revolutionary spirit. Performed by the real-life members of the band, the film is a riotous anti-occupation manifesto that is as funny as it is earnest and sobering.

Belfast lads Naoise and Liam grew up with a strong sense of Irish pride, mainly instilled by Naoise’s father Arlo (Michael Fassbender) a former republican paramilitary who insisted that they speak the Irish language as he believed it to be a tool for freedom. Arlo disappeared some twenty years earlier, leaving his wife Dolores housebound and his son occupied with little more than drug dealing. Naoise is in fact arrested during a wild rave and, faced with a harsh Ulster Loyalist detective at the police station, he does indeed use language as a weapon by refusing to speak in English.

Schoolteacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh is thus brought in as an interpreter: a chance meeting that kickstarts an unlikely musical collaboration. Almost accidentally, Liam, Naoise and JJ embark on a fierce quest to revive their mother tongue, and they succeed beyond anyone’s expectations. Technically, they follow in the footsteps of all the activists, fighters and teachers who made it their mission to promote the Irish language, but what they achieve effectively and effortlessly as a band is to treat it as a living language, making it cool, relevant and useful to newer generations.

What makes the film so powerful is that its strengths run across several layers. Firstly, it tackles important subjects like colonialism and resistance through the fresh and refreshing lens of the younger generations. This includes how to tackle the problem of a divided national identity. Secondly, it’s a raw and realistic portrayal of teenagers and their woes, ranging from money and drugs to relationships and sex, as well as how youngsters feel about figures of authority. There’s defiance and violence, but also very touching moments of vulnerability involving the main character and his parents. Thirdly, it features genuinely catchy music by the protagonists themselves, making the soundtrack not only relevant but also enjoyable. The whole is then packed with humour, action and a very playful directing style, making Kneecap punchy and satisfying on every level. In short, one of the top films of recent years.