NZIFF: Kneecap

Belfast’s own Beastie Boys become unlikely figureheads of the Irish Language Act in this madcap biopic of sex, drugs, and Gaelic rap.

Never has a film had so much fun with Irish indigeneity. Rich Peppiatt’s sophomore feature forgoes the bleak Belfast of car-bombings and sectarian conflict in its following of the rise of Irish-language hip-hop group Kneecap. Members Naoise and Liam (both playing themselves) capitalise on the “intergenerational trauma” of The Troubles as an easy ticket to score prescription drugs. That isn’t to say those days have been forgotten; rather that these lads from West Belfast won’t let that history define them.

After a close call with the garda, Liam is introduced to schoolteacher JJ (also playing himself) who discovers lyrics in Gaeilge in Liam’s notebook. Alongside Naoise, they form the group Kneecap and become a sensation on both sides of the border. Despite their affinity for courting controversy with songs ranging from the rebellious (‘C.E.A.R.T.A’, which is the Irish word for rights) to the ridiculous (‘Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite’), the band fast become a political symbol for the Irish Language Act.

How much truth there is in what occurs onscreen is up for debate, but when you’re having this much fun, who cares? Soundtracked with barn-storming breakbeats and laced with enough horse tranquiliser to put Pegasus on the No-Fly List, Kneecap is a rip-roaring two-finger salute to the establishment and a resounding statement that the Irish language is here to stay. — Matt Bloomfield