Kneecap. 2024. Ireland/UK. Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt. With Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, DJ Próvai, Michael Fassbender. DCP courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. In Irish and English; English subtitles. 105 min.
In 2017, amid demonstrations supporting the passage of the Irish Language Act (which officially put Irish on equal footing with English in Northern Ireland), the Belfast-based rap trio Kneecap was born. DJ Próvai (sporting a tricolor balaklava), Mo Chara, and Móglaí Bap began to write and perform tracks mostly in Irish, a language spoken by less than 15 percent of the population. The three members of Kneecap portray themselves (with an assist from Michael Fassbender in a supporting role) in a semi-fictional origin story that follows their rise from small-time drug dealers performing in empty pubs to arena-filling rap stars. Director Rich Peppiat's feature debut matches the tongue-in-cheek style of Kneecap's music—fiercely raucous, satirical, and anticolonial. The group’s success has reinvigorated interest in the Irish language and, in turn, the preservation of indigenous languages worldwide.