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“Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom.” So says Michael Fassbender’s character, Arló Ó Cairealláin, in the self-titled, “mostly true” biopic of Irish-language hip-hop trio, Kneecap. The film follows the three childhood friends, who were inspired to start rapping after meeting the local music teacher who acted as their Irish-language translator during a police interrogation.
Raucous hijinks follow, but so too do affecting explorations of the lives of the disenfranchised ceasefire generation. One band member is having a relationship with a Protestant girl – but keeping it well under wraps. Another has a tricky relationship with his father (Fassbender), a former IRA member, who faked his own death to avoid prison. And all three experience run-ins with the police, who treat them with increasing sadism.
