“Kneecap” (2024) refers to an Irish rap group who rapped in Irish, also known as Gaelic, in West Belfast after the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. In oversimplified terms, the “Troubles” occurred for decades between the majority Catholic Irish versus the minority Protestant population. The Catholics wanted Northern Ireland to unite with the rest of Ireland whereas the Protestants wanted North Ireland to stay separate from Ireland and stay within the United Kingdom, i.e. the colonizers. In the film, the Irish rap group plays themselves. Set in 2019, childhood friends, Liam and Naoise, love to get high, and one night, they get separated during a police chase. At the station, Liam demands an interpreter and refuses to speak English so Gaelic high school teacher, JJ, agrees to translate for the cops but ends up sympathizing with Liam after reading Liam’s notebook, which has lyrics written in Gaelic. The three end up forming a group, and each member faces different challenges as Kneecap rises to fame.
When I received an invitation to screen “Kneecap,” I had no desire to go because I am not into this era of rap music, and I have no idea who these people are, but the film had two things going for it: Michael Fassbender and the Gaelic language. I’d watch Fassbender in anything. As someone who wants to prioritize indigenous people, once I understood that Irish films are usually in English, rarely in Gaelic, I prioritize watching Irish films where the characters speak in Gaelic. The Irish are indigenous people, which may sound strange considering that I am writing from a region where Irish Americans are probably the majority.
Not every movie is made for me, which is fine. There was no danger of me falling asleep during “Kneecap.” It is a frenetic, colorful movie that blends genres together with uneven results. It is at once unconventional and too conventional. It is not made for an audience who is coming to the movie without knowledge of Irish history and culture so moviegoers risk being left behind as the movie barrels forward without context or background. Despite belonging to that demographic, the movie works because the narrative and characters are structured in broad enough tropes, so viewers have something to hold on to as they go on a wild, out of context ride.
Liam serves as the narrator and does a decent job acting. It does not hurt that he brings movie star looks to the proceedings which shine through regardless of how you feel about his haircut and wardrobe choices. He gets the romantic storyline of falling for a woman on the opposite political divide. Naoise is probably the weakest actor of the three. Director Rich Peppiatt, who does not speak Gaelic, has previously recorded their music videos and generally has Naoise stand around looking dumbfounded and saying as few lines as possible, which is an easy bar to clear and ameliorates the possibility that he otherwise would act as the movie’s stumbling block, especially since his storyline is crucial to the plot.
The narrative’s foundation rests on Naoise’s family drama. Fassbender plays Arlo, Naoise’s father, a fugitive whom the police want because he allegedly made bombs during the Troubles and does not appear for long stretches throughout the movie. He is a godlike, mythical figure who is the fount of their spiritual resistance and Gaelic pride, which the duo translate into getting high and rapping in Gaelic, but Arlo is also the judge, jury and executioner who will decide if their interpretation of his lessons is blasphemous, warrants his wrath then punish. On one side, self-appointed disciples, the Radical Republicans Against Drugs, bully Liam and Naoise as abominations to the resistance because they are hard partying drug dealers. On the other side are cops who see Liam and Naoise as low life scum who are the next generation of terrorist sympathizers hiding a fugitive. The cops are not as the Radical Republicans concerned about the two’s actual illegal activities. The pair’s lives become the new battleground for the post-Troubles, not the streets.
JJ, the best actor of the three, is the only sympathetic person in the older generation who sees Liam and Naoise’s worth. JJ is suffering from a midlife crisis and feeling as if his work is unfulfilling. He has no joy from teaching bored high school students whereas Liam and Naoise’s use Gaelic in a passionate, energetic way and make it a living language as opposed to a dead, theoretical exercise. It also does not hurt that JJ’s wife is moving up in the world with Gaelic as her life’s purpose whereas he feels no such fulfillment. JJ’s story provides the momentum in the narrative because the real tension is whether he will blow up his life in the best or worst way. If “Kneecap” pulls punches, it is the failure to fully explore the fact that he was having a midlife crisis and passively aggressively resenting his wife’s accomplishments for surpassing him. IN an AITA reddit post, he would be voted as YTA, but in the movie, he feels like a sympathetic, relatable character. As he dives into the modst unlikely creative pursuit later in life than most wannabe rappers. Unlike many people, he converts his underexplored perturbation into energy to transform himself. It is not always pretty since he is a messy partier, but it is ultimately a creative, rejuvenating force which elevates Liam and Naoise’s raw talent. His vision carves them a place in the world where they do not belong.
“Kneecap” gets monotonous because watching guys get high and drunk is a bit one note. It is not their fault, but as a Black woman in the US, watching the majority get pats on the back and dubbed as revolutionary for doing things that if I engaged in them would get me locked up as a criminal or seen as evidence of an inherent biological flaw, it is always hard to enjoy these scenes without folding my arms and side-eyeing. The movie is one in a long line of films that find such antics engrossing so if you love that genre, then you’re in for a treat.
Because I am unfamiliar with the group, I have no idea which aspects of “Kneecap” are fictional. If I did, I would understand if I just watched an infomercial and how whitewashed their autobiographical film was. It does appear that the group was less oblivious to the mainstream Irish language than they depict themselves. Also it appears that Naoise’s mom, Dolores, did not have as happy an ending as the movie portrays, but dad’s throwback revolutionary antics were probably not the source of her sorrow.
“Kneecap” was a love letter to Belfast. The graffiti and murals tell a story about the town’s overall sentiment. A hilarious throwaway scene is a foot chase scene involving Orange Men and a Union Jack baton. Villain Detective Ellis (Josie Walker) was an interesting character, but it was a bit surprising when she faces no consequences for going too far in her targeting of Liam.
If I watched more films based on actual music groups, I wonder if “Kneecap” would follow the same beats of those film. Strip the film from its historic roots, the group escapes the gravity of their origins and obstacles of being seen as forgettable people to becoming the focus of the masses’ adulation. The credits end with actual footage of them from 2022 going back to a photo of the real-life moment that is the opening scene of the movie. It is fundamentally a film about an unlikely group of people making it big and finding fame, and if it worked for someone as clueless as me, someone with more interest in the group will probably adore it.
