Kneecap Review: A blend of ketamine-soaked satire as Gaeilge

Last Saturday evening we decided to do something different, so headed to the cinema. I hadn’t been very often since Covid, something I realised as I handed over more than the cost of the tickets for Coke and popcorn. To be fair, my grandchildren had warned me.

What brought us to the Eye was the new film creating waves across the world – Kneecap. The name of course will resonate with many of us of a certain age, as during the conflict years in the Six Counties, the warning "watch your kneecaps" was code to behave yourself in areas under IRA control.

Domiciled in Belfast for my formative years, I was interested to see how a film set in today’s post-conflict era of that former unionist citadel - now perhaps a republican city - featuring a rap group from West Belfast, would translate to the big screen. After 125 minutes of manic cinematography with Liam og (Moglai Bap ), Naoise (Mo Chara ) & JJ O’Doc (DJ Provai ) we left the Eye for a much needed aperitif in the G Hotel to decipher what we had just witnessed.

We live in relatively peaceful times today, despite recent disgraceful scenes of racist fascists on our streets, but 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, there is a fresh dynamic in former conflict societies. A new generation of young people have grown up without conflict; the film highlights this.

In a once divided society there is now a confidence that young people look forward to better futures. The film embraces what went before in a highly satirical way, and all through the medium of the Irish language which has flourished in Belfast. It is an ingenious script written by an Englishman, Rich Peppiatt, who obviously has his finger on the pulse of a post-conflict society.

The film is provocative, challenging, thought-provoking, and creative. It has a brilliant sense of a downtrodden language once banned in our schools. That the dialogue would transfix American juries and win a gong at the Sundance Film Awards in Utah earlier this year is testament. The film was won rave reviews by no less than the New York Times, Guardian, Hollywood Reporter, HotPress, Irish Times, Examiner, Rolling Stone, and now even the Galway Advertiser!

In recent weeks the film had its Irish release at the Galway Film Festival. The lads brought along their ‘retired’ RUC land rover as a stunt. Many will remember these vehicles driven through riots, bombarded by ‘Molotov cocktails’: a trendy term for Kennedy’s milks bottle filled with petrol in those mad days.

Some older cinema goers might find the film a bit uncomfortable, with drugs on tap, spicy language, political messages, guns, and dissidents, but head to Electric Picnic next weekend and ask any of the thousands of young people who listened to the Wolfe Tones last Picnic if Kneecap is a fair reflection of life in Ireland in 2024?

The film follows young boys who form a hip hop band and practise in their teacher’s garage until it goes up in flames. They are the sons of former IRA veterans from the Seventies who were Gods (of a sort ) on their streets.

Of course as in any film nowadays there is the love interest, and in everything Beal Feirste, it crosses the sectarian divide: Moglai Bap has exotic high jinks with middle-class Protestant beauty Georgia. She engages in cross-community love, but finds ‘Brits Out’ stamped on his butt cheeks a step too far. Definitely 'Tiocfaidh ar La' will have a different meaning after seeing this film.

This is comedy and musical entertainment. The dialogue might cause problems as gaeilge if you are from Connemara, but with sub-titles for those of us challenged by our native tongue, it is no problem to follow. It will rock the cinemas this year, and already it has been booked into more cinemas in Ireland than any other film. Keep an eye out for the Academy Awards shortlist in December as Kneecap might feature big time.

Finally as we drove home from the G, Mary and I had a heated discussion on the merits of the film. While I was of the opinion it is Oscar material, she voiced the opinion that while it is rated 16+, it promotes the idea that delving into cocaine and ketamine is okay. But as RTÉ’s Joe Duffy found out, no Wolfe Tones’ song ever made a young person lift an AK47. Likewise, no film should make anyone take up drugs. But this is a debate to flow for many months as audiences flock to watch Kneecap worldwide.

Paddy McMenamin, a former political prisoner in Long Kesh in the 1970s, is a teacher and author.