It sounds like a ghastly crime drama, but KNEECAP is a knees up, thumbs up cheeky pseudo bio of an Irish band bigger, brasher, bolder than The Commitments, bowling over the brutal British insistence of English as the franca lingua of Northern Ireland.
This semi fictionalised fandango of the rise of rap based resistance is infectiously funny with the real life people playing their reel life selves in a delirious swipe at culture killing colonialism and the joyous revenge of resurrection.
There’s something definitely intoxicating about Rich Peppiatt’s picture of drug fuelled dry witted rebellion complete with animations, asides, deviations and an energy that is both exhausting and replenishing.
The dynamism of the drama is supplied by twenty-something Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (who raps as Mo Chara) and his best friend Naoise (aka Móglaí Bap), who have been instilled with the value of the Irish language since childhood. Along with local music teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh, the trio transforms into the language liberation rap group, with the older man taking on the persona of the bare bum, balaclavad, DJ Próvaí.
Inter faith fornication, factional freedom fighter frictions, and a police force not devoid of partisan politics add to the fun and fuel the chaos of this unabashed entertainment with unapologetic political sting.
KNEECAP goes to the very heart of the dispossessed, the disenfranchised, the cultural decay introduced by colonial powers, and how the word is mightier than the sword.
“Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom” intones Naoise’s freedom fighting father, played by Michael Fassbender, in another mercurial movie role.
A raw and renewable energy source, replete with an authentic enthusiasm, KNEECAP is a must see, even for those who are not hip hop happy or rap raptured.
