rich peppiatts first feature film is about a group of irish boys diving into the world of hip hop and creating music in their native irish language. not only is it a love letter to the irish country, the people and their mothers tongue, but also about the importance of language in regards to national identity and freedom.
conflicts with and seperation from the brits is recurring and popular theme used in movies set in ireland – for obvious reasons, I must say. kneecap centers around three young irish men, who made speaking irish and being proud of their heritage part of their identity. Liam and naoise were heavily influenced by naoises father arlo, a former republican paramilitary, and jj is teaching music at an irish-speaking school. under odd circumstances, their paths cross and they form a hip hop trio – making music in both english and irish.
Liam Óg “Mo Chara” Ó Hannaidh, Naoise “Móglaí Bap” Ó Cairealláin and JJ “DJ Próvaí” Ó Dochartaigh make up the kneecap trio, all potraying themselves in this half-fiction, half-real biopic. if you go into this without knowing a single thing about kneecap, you wouldn’t dare to think that they weren’t professional actors. their portrayals are so genuine, so convincing, that it’s actually scary. next to them in the cast we have Michael fassbender, playing arlo, simone kirby, playing dolores (naoises mother) AND JOSIE WALKER, playing the coldhearted detective ellis.
on a visual level, it was not at all what i expected. we are served beautiful imagery, equally hideous and mesmerizing at the same time. the bleakness and dereliction of west belfast stands side by side with colorful, vibrant shots of the trio on stage or in the studio. every once in a while we see doodly lines and drawings flimmering across the screen, either serving as subtitles to the songs or underlining certain messages, rounding up the youthful and disrespectful tone of the movie.
the soundtrack consists mainly of irish-/english-speaking artists and bands, mainly kneecap, but also bands such as bicep or fontaines d.c.. either way it’s more than fitting and supports the image the band is trying to create around themselves. as a long-time hip hop listener, the first thing i did was check out their music on spotify (and i recommend you do the same).
there is little to criticize about kneecap. i wasn’t as much convinced by the third act as i was by the previous two, but i still had a damn good time. the themes of language, nationality, a sense of self being combined through music were previously not something i thought about- but which i now will. kneecap is most definitely a worthy irish entry for the international film oscar award and so far my favorite. good luck to my new favorite irish boys!