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‘Kneecap’ is a hilarious and subversive take on musical biopics

The film is uninhibited in its portrayal of a new generation of Irish speakers trying to make it big despite the odds.

Image of three people with the person in the back wearing a robber-style mask with their arms around the other two.

The difficult journey to stardom for the trio, as captured in the film, is rife with class commentary, critiques of the music industry and an inextinguishable desire for self-determination.

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

“Kneecap,” based on the story of the eponymous Northern Ireland hip-hop trio, recently received an impressive six nominations at the upcoming British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. The film is a fictionalization of the trio’s rise to notoriety and a masterpiece of Irish cinema that explores the preservation of language rights in the modern age.

“Kneecap” takes place at the forefront of the battle to establish Irish as an official language of Northern Ireland through the Irish Language Act of 2022 — which later passed as the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act. Directed by Rich Peppiatt, the film marks the acting debut of Kneecap members Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí as themselves.

The film opens with Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap, best friends who were influenced by Móglaí Bap’s father — a former Irish Republican paramilitary officer — to become fluent in Irish. Known as “ceasefire babies” for growing up around the end of the Troubles — the violent political struggle in Northern Ireland that sought to separate from the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland — the young men lead aimless lives as low-level drug dealers. Mo Chara’s chance encounter with DJ Próvaí, a teacher at an Irish language school, sparks the creation of their hip-hop trio. In the ensuing musical journey, the trio gains public attention for their provocative and political lyrics.

Despite having no previous acting experience, the members of Kneecap provide a stellar performance that is immersive and imbued with excellent comedic timing. Michael Fassbender plays Móglaí Bap’s father Arlo, who fakes his own death when he is found responsible for multiple bombings. Fassbender’s screen time is minimal, yet provocative — his dedication to Irish Republican ideology clashes with his familial obligations, leading to an emotional exploration of abandonment that pervades the film’s narrative.

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“Kneecap” does not shy away from the vulgarity of the trio’s music. Scenes of the three men recording, writing and performing their music captures the drug-fueled haze in which they often operated. The film’s cinematography brilliantly chronicles these moments — bright colors abound, moving shots illustrate the trio’s disorientation and stylistic shifts represent the mental effects of their frequent drug use. Creative graphics superimposed on live-action scenes appear throughout the movie’s 105-minute run time, reproducing the essence of Kneecap’s music. 

Just like the trio, the film is raw and makes no attempt to grandstand. Instead, it leans into the controversial elements that have made Kneecap and their music so contentious to global audiences.

Lyrics like “And when the revolution comes / I’m first out to loot” from the song “Guilty Conscience” encapsulate the motivations behind the trio’s expletive-filled music. In a Northern Ireland still troubled by sectarianism and cultural erasure, the trio’s music — and the biopic — uses hip-hop as a vehicle for political messaging. 

The group’s name is political in nature, referencing the torture method of “kneecapping,” in which victims are shot in the back of the knees. The film explores an alternative perspective of the country’s history that is distinctly anti-British. The film’s use of foul language, explicit scenes and rampant depictions of drug usage provide a comedic front for a film that appears to reflect Irish nationalism among young people. For example, at some points in the film, characters referred to Northern Ireland as “The North of Ireland” instead.

The trio raps in both English and Irish, and translations are not provided for portions of their Irish lyrics. This choice cleverly reproduces the multilingualism of Northern Ireland, in which even some of those indigenous to the area are unable to fully comprehend the group’s music. 

The film’s dialogue also oscillates between English and Irish. Viewers of the film are fully immersed in the cultural push-and-pull of a still-divided country of “ceasefire babies.”

With a plot rich in action and dialogue that pulls no punches, “Kneecap” is an experimental and astounding addition to a long line of musical biopics. While some biopics attempt to convey the personal journey of artists on their road to fame, “Kneecap” diverges from this route. The exaggerated obstacles faced by the trio reveal the absurdity of being unable to create art in a language enshrined in their history.

Ultimately, “Kneecap” is a story of overcoming the difficult journey to stardom. The film is rife with class commentary, critiques of the music industry and an inextinguishable desire for self-determination. 

The film’s constant refrain comes from Móglaí Bap’s father, Arlo: “Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom.” The film asserts that in the digital age, it is music, art and conversations that bring about justice.

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