Kneecap

The story of Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap and how they accidentally emerged as the new voices of Irish culture, nationalism, and “Getting Your Brits Out”.

An unabashedly uncensored look at Belfast’s notorious rap group. With all three members playing themselves, Kneecap cheekily reconstructs their rise to success while hardly sanitizing their politically outspoken views. Rapper Móglaí Bap, for instance, delves into his strained relationship with his extremist Irish republican father Arlo (an ever-charming Michael Fassbender). On the other hand, fellow emcee Mo Chara has natural comic timing whenever he dabbles in juvenile political debates with his on-and-off English girlfriend Georgia (Jessica Reynolds). Uniting these two drug-abusing “low-life scums” and “hoods” School of Rock-style is the third member DJ Próvaí, an ex-music teacher who evolves into the Irish balaclava-wearing producer for Kneecap.

Kneecap’s politics are more multi-dimensional than you would imagine. Much like Kneecap’s controversial discography, the big-screen adaptation of their life doesn’t shy away from taking shots at the British cultural hegemony and unequal police surveillance of Irish speakers. But this is more than just an anti-Brit satire with a sticker on the poster reading “British Advisory: Irish Content.” Kneecap also has the time to look into its own community’s flawed elements, from hypocritical Irish republican anti-drug groups to the strained family lives of Irish revolutionaries like Fassbender’s Arlo. In a particularly memorable flashback sequence, Arlo tells the young Móglaí and Mo that (translated in English), “Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom.” No matter how hard-hitting that line is, Kneecap ensures that their characters live up to the Irish rhymes they yell on the stage. Despite its darkly funny drugged-out hallucinations and its anti-English rhetoric, Kneecap’s brilliance lies in walking on the thin line between the personal and the political. Once they get a platform, Kneecap’s members have to deal with their personal demons first before they dabble in any (refreshingly not on-the-nose) political messaging.