Northern Ireland’s hip-hop heroes get their movie moment
Film | Jorge Ignacio Castillo
Kneecap
Cineplex Southland
If you go by the dozens of films about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (and subsequent IRA decommissioning) ended the conflict with England.
A happy ending for all the parties? History’s never that clean.
Even though self-governance is thriving, Northern Irish resentment towards the English is still there. It’s rarely tapped artistically, though. That’s changing with the emergence of a new generation of local filmmakers. During the latest Sundance Film Festival, audiences crowned one of them, Rich Peppiatt, for his unruly hip-hop biopic Kneecap.
Based on real events — down to the lead characters playing themselves — Kneecap depicts the origins of the band of the same name, a Belfast rap group whose English-Irish flow embodies the resistance of yore. Don’t call them Republicans either — they have issues with the old guard too.
Two wayward, disaffected MDMA pushers, Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh) and Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin), run afoul of the authorities. The former’s refusal to speak the Queen’s English gets them in touch with JJ Ó Dochartaigh (as himself), a high school music teacher who moonlights as an interpreter and has all but given up on his DJ dreams.
The teens and JJ don’t see eye to eye but manage to get enough material on tape to get the locals’ attention, as well as the police and the republican anti-drug unit (there’s one). Side characters include Mo Chara’s pro-Britain girlfriend Georgia (Jessica Reynolds), Móglaí Bap’s on-the-lam dad (Michael Fassbender), and JJ’s disapproving partner Caitlin (Fionnuala Flaherty).
Kneecap feels very fresh. The film’s music and subject (language preservation as the Northern Irish’s last stand) are fascinating. The rags-to-riches template all music biopics have is there, but the movie takes enough detours to remain intriguing. A minor caveat is that none of the characters are particularly likeable. But really, who is these days?