The Irish-language hip-hop trio Kneecap from Belfast caused much spluttering from the DUP in 2019 when, one day after William and Kate’s royal visit to the city’s Empire Music Hall, they showed up there doing a gig that involved raucously shouting (in English) “Brits out”. Kneecap have been a blazingly fierce presence since they emerged from the Irish language movement in the North, reinventing the political purpose of hip-hop and fighting a rearguard action for republican and Irish culture against a somnolent consensus.
Now they’re playing versions of themselves in this hyperactive, and slightly Guy-Ritchie-esque biopic that isn’t shy of stereotypes; it is directed by Rich Peppiatt, who made their last video. The film focuses on a key moment of consciousness-raising: they realised that, on being questioned by the “peelers”, an Irish-language speaker can demand to have an Irish-language translator, fundamentally changing the dynamic of any such police interrogation and potentially any relationship with the police and the state itself.
