Kneecap supporting Stand Up To Racism (Photo: twitter/@SUTRScotland)
Kneecap is set to be the most watched Irish language film ever. It features the bilingual hip-hop group Kneecap who rap in English and Irish.
The three members are Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoíse Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh. The film stars the band members as themselves.
Throughout the film a fictitious vigilante group called Radical Republicans Against Drugs are critiqued and ridiculed. It’s a reference to actual groups such as Republican Action Against Drugs.
The band and the film often celebrate defiance of authority and an understanding of drug use. “The subject matter that we have would have got us shot,” said Ó Cairealláin. “Young people take drugs, that’s the reality of it.”
The band is also politically sharp on issues from mental health to opposing the far right.
At several of the Kneecap premieres its members rode in waving smoke canisters from the roof of a vehicle mocked up as a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) armoured riot van. It also commissioned a mural of a burning police vehicle that the PSNI, the bigots of the Democratic Unionist Party and the Tories all found very offensive.
Each condemnation brings the group more notoriety and fans. The three members of Kneecap are passionate gaeilgeoirs—Irish speakers. They raise the voices of young Irish speakers especially across the six counties of Northern Ireland.
Ó Dochartaigh was a music teacher in an Irish language school before joining the group. He was sacked after being pictured with “Brits Out” written across his arse while performing at Belfast’s Empire bar the night after prince William and Kate had visited.
The storyline follows the ongoing fight for Irish language rights and crucially the funding for the language to be taught in schools. There is a clip that shows a demonstration from May 2022 when 17,000 gaeilgeoirs travelled to march in Belfast demanding Irish language rights.
A 14th century Italian romp that has class echoes today
The Decameron is a fun, medieval romp that feels different from anything else on television at the moment.
It’s set in Italy in 1343 and loosely based on the 14th century Italian short story collection by Giovanni Boccaccio.
It follows a group of nobles fleeing the city of Florence for the countryside to escape the black plague. They are everything you’d expect from a group of spoiled nobles— selfish, conniving and ridiculous.
Most of the group resolve that if the end of the world is coming, they should enjoy themselves. They throw off rigid expectations when it comes to sexual relations, leading to tensions between the group and laughs for the audience.
While the nobles cavort, their servants are left to literally and figuratively clear up their mess. And it’s their lives and the steadily simmering class tension in the villa that makes for the most interesting parts of the series.
As the plague sweeps through Italy, the servants quickly realise there’s no reason to maintain social hierarchies. They become less subservient and less willing to do the nobles’ bidding. Of course, the rich don’t take this well.
The Decameron might not be for everyone. Some might find an issue with how the characters speak in a modern dialect. But overall the series has enough to keep you hooked.
It has a brilliant cast of comedy actors, including Saoirse-Monica Jackson from Derry Girls.
Sophie Squire
