Kneecap: Luck of the Linguists
Will the Irish rappers and their biopic overtake the States?
It would take an active imagination to dream up a three-piece group like Kneecap.
Here you have a crew that’s mashed-up the rowdy antics of the Beastie Boys, the in-your-face political ‘tude of Public Enemy, the anti-police stance of N.W.A, the drug humor of Cheech & Chong and the controversy-courting stunts of Madonna, all in the confines of Northern Ireland rap music. But somehow, they make it work.
Their story began in the mid-2010’s in West Belfast ‘hood called Gaeltacht Quarter, an amorphous area that boosts Irish culture and a mile away from the tourist attractions of the city center but also a world away from there otherwise. By then, the Catholic vs. Protestant, Irish nationalists vs. British loyalists’ 30-plus year war (aka ‘The Troubles’) had simmered down at the start of the millennium but left many long lasting scars there. Where there were once barricades and bombings, nowadays there’s an ‘invisible border’ between the Northern UK-ruled territory of the island and the independent Irish lands to the South: You’ll notice the speed limit changing, the use of pounds vs. euros and different colored mailboxes. But below the surface, there’s a lot of cultural conflict brewing in the North otherwise.
VIDEO: Kneecap “C.E.A.R.T.A.”
There, Liam Óg “Mo Chara” Ó hAnnaidh and Naoise “Móglaí Bap” Ó Cairealláin were a pair of young spray-painting dopeheads. Mo and Móglaí turned a police bust into an inspiration for a song, hooking up with JJ “DJ Próvaí” Ó Dochartaigh in 2017 for their first single, “C.E.A.R.T.A.” While the group had impressive beats and flow, they were also unique as they mixed Ulster Irish (with roots back to the 14th Century) with English into their lyrics. Other rap groups had made their mark in Ireland but these boys had a mission and some real cheek to them. Though the song’s proud drug references kept it off the local airwaves, it also helped get the group recognition. Their first release, 2018’s 3CAG, also touted drugs and didn’t hit the airwaves but did stir up more controversy and headlines for the group. The name ‘kneecap’ itself is a reference to how the authorities would usually punish drug dealers, with the band proudly touting what they’d suffered and what they may be in for again.
Meanwhile, the band gleefully courted more controversy, most notably in 2019 with a concert where they chanted “KEEP THE BRITS OUT!” at a Belfast venue which hosted the UK royal family only a day earlier. More mischief ensued later that year when the band circulated a tour poster which featured the leader of Ireland’s Democratic Union Party Arlene Foster and then UK prime minister Boris Johnson helplessly tied to a missile, which managed to anger a number of UK loyalists. Not quite done being provocateurs, in 2022, they unveiled a mural with a burning police van, which again drew political condemnation, though it also drew some support too.
The band was also hatching plans for a U.S. invasion in the last few years but things went bad for them twice. In early 2020, they had just begun some New York shows for the start of an American tour when COVID shut down their plans. Then, this past March, they were set to make a splash at the SXSW music festival but they cancelled when it was learned that the fest was getting sponsorship from various U.S. military entities that were supplying bombs used against Palestinians, leading other Irish bands and groups from elsewhere to follow suit.
But things seem to be turning a corner for the band this year. Along with their debut album coming out (the very fine Fine Art), they’ve finally realized their plans for a biopic, directed by Rich Peppiatt who had shot a video for the band and hatched the idea with them for a film back in 2019, when those plans also got sidetracked by COVD. Appropriately filmed early last year in Belfast and co-written by Peppiatt and the band, Kneecap stars themselves playing themselves, following in the footsteps of The Beatles, The Who and the Spice Girls. The band acts out the story of their beginnings, alongside veteran bad-ass actor Michael Fassbender (who was raised in Ireland himself). Even with all the controversy that the band courted, the film had loads of backing from various parts of the Irish film industry. And already making history with its premiere at Sundance earlier this year as the first Irish language film at that fest, Kneecap garnered rave reviews and made its New York debut at the storied indie movie house Angelika Film Center this past Wednesday, with the band and director in attendance for a lillywhite audience that was at least pretty mmixed in gender.
So, how was the film itself? Peppiatt’s style is appropriately fast-paced, humorous and as appropriate for the band, very aggressive and full of energy. Mostly narrated by Mo Chara, he waves off the usual depiction of Belfast as bombings only and starts the story with band-mate Móglaí Bap’s christening by his father Arlo (played by Fassbender) in a field that happened to be an I.R.A. camp, leading him to soon fake his own death to avoid the authorities.
The two young chums bond as choirboys who accidentally come across a weed bag and dose their whole congregation during liturgy, replacing the incense with ganja, setting the irreverent tone for the movie. Mo is unrepentant about his drug use, reasoning that it “brings us close to God” and during several scenes where the band trips out, the film takes on a Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas vibe as they hallucinate all kinds of strange things. Along with fending off the cops (or ‘peelers,’ as they call them), Mo and Móglaí have to also contend with the thuggish “Radical Republicans Against Drugs,” who worship Arlo, and who also frowns upon their drug use. The lads later overly-dramatically fake post-Troubles trauma to get drug prescriptions, but mostly rely on their postman to deliver the illicit goods from foreign lands. Their early recording sessions and gigs are also drug-fueled spectacles that they barely get through, sometimes stupidly mixing up what they dose themselves with. Is all of this really funny though? I gladly admit to cackling out loud to several of these scenes, so yeah, it works.
What gives the movie heart isn’t the touching scenes between Móglaí and his saddened mom (nicely played by Irish actress Simone Kirby) or Mo Chara’s romance with fierce young hottie Georgia (played by another Irish actress, Jessica Reynolds), which gets extra steamy when he yells out Irish nationalist slogans in bed. The Irish language itself, along with their love of hip-hop, is what unites the band and gives it purpose. Late in the film, Mo informs us that there’s 80,000 Irish language speakers in their country and only 6,000 of them are in the North and the end credits include the depressing fact that every 40 days, another native language disappears. During a clandestine meet-up between Móglaí and Arlo, the latter complains that his son speaks the language but doesn’t understand it.
That dynamic changes as the band begins. Próvaí starts out as a language instructor and school band leader and after a run in with Mo Chara, becomes impressed with his writing, encouraging him and Móglaí to turn it into raps, with them providing the music. Though Próvaí wants to be part of the group, he’s also torn between his teaching duties and his wife’s rejection of the band’s thuggish nature. Próvaí is actually so convincing at showing his torn loyalties between the group and his academics (later wearing a multi-colored hood to hide his identity, as he still does) that at first I thought he was one of the ringers/actors brought in to help the movie.
After the concert incident of “Brits Out”’ (painted on Próvaí’s butt), Kneecap has to contend with their studio being burned down, Próvaí’s school firing and his wife leaving him, plus further run-ins with the “peelers” and Radical Republicans (who decide it’s OK for them to deal, but not rap). Climaxing with a big concert and more showdowns with the authorities on one side and on the other side the nationalists, where Arlo saves his son and turns himself in, the band manages to come out of it all in one piece. It all keeps coming back to what Arlo says early on in the movie- “every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom.”
After some well-earned applause at the end of the flick, Peppiatt and the band appeared at Angelika for an interview with Próvai wearing his custom mask and riding a broom. The director admitted that though he loved the band, “they didn’t scream ‘Hollywood material’” and that it was novel to be “doing a biopic at the beginning of their career.” The band admitted that they needed to take six months of acting lessons to prep, but that it was worth it. Peppiatt also explained how the low budget film was made with the band’s input where they corrected things that didn’t seem right in the script (Mo: “when do you take cocaine in a garage and have a little boogie?”). In return, Peppiatt insisted that it wasn’t going to be a “two hour puff piece” about them and that they had to show some vulnerability, most memorably in the Móglaí/mom scenes and the bit where Mo painfully admits to a doctor about how he can’t stay erect. Mo in turn said that he liked working with Peppiatt (“he’s English but it’s not his fault”) and took pains to explain that Irish Republicans (which Próvai framed as “basically, fuck the royal family”) isn’t anywhere near the same as American Republicans, which got some audience cheers. As to what they learned about themselves from doing the film, Próvai proclaimed “I was the real sex appeal (of the group)!” while Móglaí insisted “we’re the authorities on ourselves- it’s the role we were born to play.”
And again everything came back to the Irish language in the Q&A. Móglaí explained how their story revolves around how “the Brits have tried to suppress the Irish language” and Próvai added that Irish was “seen as a peasant language” which was literally “beaten out of people” and later blamed the Catholic Church for “cleaning everything up.” Peppiatt praised the band for “protecting Irish culture and heritage,” going so far as to say, “just the way that they live their lives is a political act.”
As for the band’s hip hop roots, Mo explained “stories are always very important to the Irish people,” and they reasoned that ‘the best music for that is rap.” Móglaí also explained that “hip hop has a massive dislike for authorities and police,” which they appreciated. Mo had to interject something there though: “our moms are the only authorities who have the power to scare us!”
At the end, when the band was asked what they hoped that audiences got out of the film, Próvai blurted out ‘some popcorn!’ which was one of the least profane things he said then that otherwise embarrassed the rest of the band. Móglaí responded by saying he hoped we’d realize that “Ireland isn’t just full of gingers [red heads] doing cartwheels and playing fiddles.. there’s some of us degenerates too!” He had some more practical advice for us also: “go on Duolingo and learn Irish!” But ever the pitchman, he added “go to www.kneecap.ie and buy our merchandise!”
So will Kneecap make Kneecap into Hollywood material despite what their director thinks? Most multilingual cross over acts nowadays are either Spanish (Pitbull, Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee) or Asian (BTS, BLACKPINK), but the Belfast boys might actually have a shot at widening that field.
Though they might rightfully hate the old phrase, ‘the luck of the Irish’ may apply to them here.
VIDEO: Kneecap: Official Trailer
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