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Belfast’s finest
An unexpected favourite at Sunday’s Golden Globes, JENNY FARRELL inspects the political context of the film Kneecap and its ferocious advocacy of the Irish language

THE Irish language is often relegated to the past — a relic of rural idylls or historical dramas. Kneecap, directed by Rich Peppiatt, smashes this notion with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, delivering a brash, hilarious and poignant quasi-biopic of Belfast’s working-class Irish-language left-wing rap trio, Kneecap. 

Mo Chara (Liam Og O Hannaidh), Moglai Bap (Naoise O Caireallain), and DJ Provai (JJ O Dochartaigh) star as fictionalised versions of themselves, portraying their riotous rise in a city grappling with its post-Troubles identity. 

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