38/33
Caitlin: A country without a language is only half a nation
Narrative
When fate brings Belfast schoolteacher JJ into the orbit of self-confessed ‘lowlife scum’ Naoise and Liam Og, the needle falls on a hip hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish, they lead a movement to save their native tongue. Ireland’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025.
Belfast played by Orbital
Quoted in Film Junk Podcast: Episode 961: In a Violent Nature + TIFF 2024 (2024). I went to the secret Cineworld screening last night which turned out to be ‘Kneecap’. I had seen the trailer so I was aware of the film, although I had no idea Kneecap were a real band or that the actors were playing themselves.
JJ sees a book of hip-hop lyrics, written in Irish, by Liam and his friend Naoise O Cairaellain
As one of the few Irish speakers in Belfast, JJ O Dochartaigh is called to a police meeting as an interpreter, where he meets Liam Og O Hannaidh who pretends to only speak Irish to annoy Detective Ellis (Josie Walker). A music teacher and in a relationship with an Irish language advocate, JJ sees the potential in using music to raise awareness. When the trio begin performing, they quickly gain a following, but the content of their lyrics makes them enemies both in the police and in a dissident republican organization that is against the promotion of drug use in the city.
“Kneecap” is a great film to show to an unexpected group
About a quarter of the audience at my screening walked out within the first 25 minutes, turned off by the explicit drug use, swearing and sex scenes, as well as – let’s face it – the most glaring issue for some people, the subtitles. They missed out on a film I really enjoyed (largely for all the reasons I’ve just mentioned) but also because, despite the fraught idea of people playing themselves in films (3:17 for Paris), the kids here do really Well. So much so that I couldn’t believe they were the actual kids and not full-time actors.
Handily the best of the musical biopics I’ve seen this year
There are professional actors in the other roles, none more famous than Michael Fassbender, who plays Naoise’s father. It’s a genuinely funny film, that treats its subject matter with a light touch and tells a complete story.