Kneecap

Director: Rich Peppiatt
Year Released: 2024
Rating: 0.0

This supposed "origin story" of Northern Irish hip-hop outfit Kneecap takes (I imagine) quite a few "creative liberties": hooligan Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh (playing "himself") is arrested but will only speak Gaelic to the police, so they call in music (and language) teacher JJ Ó Dochartaigh to translate, Liam is freed and then the two of them team up with Naoise Ó Cairealláin to make songs together, but their extreme political views land them in trouble with the authorities as well as vigilante group RRAD (Radical Republicans Against Drugs).  The trio's intent to help save their country's native tongue (which was suppressed by the English) is definitely a noble endeavor, but the movie is a tacky rehash of Trainspotting (without the dire warning regarding the effects of long-term drug abuse) and its actual function is to act as an advertisement for their discography (which I listened to prior to watching this and wasn't blown away).  But what's especially odious is Kneecap's "ideology": the group's "sympathy" for Jihadist "organizations" - Liam displayed a Hezbollah flag during a 2024 performance - is, to me at least, morally repugnant and there's something proto-fascist about the lads and their "nationalist" ideals.