Movies

Greatest movie ever made about Irish rap is currently streaming on Netflix

BBG News

The key to any film that is not a musical but revolves around music is to play it straight. If the actors or director makes a proverbial wink to the audience, the whole project is doomed. Viewers need to buy into what they are seeing. For St. Patrick’s Day, Netflix has just the film to see about Irish music.

The thing is that this is not a look back on all the great Irish music that came before. This is, somehow, not even an obvious homage to the band it’s about. That is the trick and the magic, and what makes it worth watching.

To be clearer, a film called Kneecap is currently available on Netflix. The plot revolves around a DJ, who is older than his soon-to-be bandmates, who forms friendships with two young men. The DJ (DJ Próvai, who is also known as JJ) meets one of the two youngsters after one is arrested. JJ is asked to interpret for the arrested youth after he chooses to speak only in Irish and not English.

Kneecap makes the perfect piece of music magic you need to watch on St. Patrick’s Day

The setting is Northern Ireland, and the timeline is recent. In other words, what you are watching happening is fairly recent and is true to actual events. Eventually, JJ joins forces with the young man who was arrested, Móglaí Bap, and his mate, Mo Chara. The last two are rappers who perform shows using both Irish and English, but also with strong sentiments to Irish Republicanism.

The key is that the songs the trio creates are fantastic. They do upset the Northern Irish establishment because it only wants English as the recognized language in that part of the UK, but that also diminishes the fact that the land was originally Irish and full of Irish speakers.

If the music was no good, the whole movie might be seen as mimicry and mocking. There is humor, sure, but there are true-to-life dramatic events as well. The trio fights back against trying to be suppressed by the police. It could very easily be the story of young African Americans who try to make a living in hip-hop but might feel they are being targeted by the police.

There’s a strong possibility that the narrative reflects the shared experiences of Kneecap and African American youth. They both produce remarkable art, yet there’s an element of concealment in their lives as well.

What makes Kneecap even better, however, is that three leads play themselves. The movie makes no effort to determine whether you know this or not because it is not a documentary. It is even more real than that. That is what makes it special.

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2025-03-16 22:01

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