Kneecap, written and directed by Rich Peppiat, is the comic, fictionalised story of the rise to fame of the Irish-language rap trio Kneecap – played by themselves.
Language Matters
by Alexa DalbyKneecap
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Can Rich Peppiat do for Belfast what Danny Boyle did for Edinburgh?
Of the 80,000 native Irish speakers, 6,000 live in the North of Ireland and three of them became a rap group called Kneecap. This is the real life story of how this anarchic Belfast trio became the unlikely figureheads of a civil rights movement to save and reinvigorate their mother tongue. Their audiences grow from empty pubs in the early days to seething masses of feral enthusiasm as their fame spreads.
The group named themselves Kneecap because they said that’s what Belfast is famous for – kneecapping. A grim IRA joke.
In this anarchic, drug- and violence-fuelled movie, they are played (very well) by themselves – Naoise Ó Cairealláin (aka Móglaí Bap), Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (Mo Chara), and disillusioned, older, married school teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh (DJ Provaí), a music teacher who wears an Irish flag-tricoloured knitted balaclava to conceal his identity and whose garage doubles as a recording studio for the rappers.
They all live in the Catholic ghetto of West Belfast in the aftermath of the sectarian civil war in Northern Ireland. They are traumatised by the Orange marches still going on and there’s lots of Trainspotting-esque running but it’s ‘Lust For Life’ only in the sense of fearing for your life and wanting to preserve it by escaping from the violence you expect.
Kneecap’s music is banned by RTE radio for its overt sex and drug references but that’s the publicity boost the group needs to get to the next level.
Naoise’s Republican father Arlo (Michael Fassbender) fakes his own death and promotes the use of the Irish language and Irish identity – “Every word in Irish is a bullet in the fight for freedom” – in his continuing fight against the English colonialists, as they are termed in the film.
Naoise has a comically unsuitable, very sexual relationship with Georgia, a rabid, non-Irish-speaking Protestant (Jessica Reynolds), whose aunt turns out to be a vengeful PSNI officer (Josie Walker).
Predictably, the group rise and rise – on a current of promoting Irish identity. Kneecap is seriously satirical and very funny. The film is full of visual gimmicks onscreen, matching the group’s loucheness. There’s even a bad-trip animation sequence.
For sheer excitement, don’t miss it.
Kneecap premiered at Sundance, where it won the Audience Award and screened in Sundance London. Kneecap is entered in the Bafta Awards 2025 for all categories, including Film Not in the English Language and Outstanding British Film. It is in Irish with English subtitles.
It is a co-production between the two nations of Ireland and is released on 23 August in the UK and Ireland.
