Kneecap band: Dublin-born minister says Kneecap film 'advocates Irish freedom through drugs' and is 'quintessentially British'
A Dubliner and Irish speaker based in East Belfast has suggested that the new film by west Belfast rap group Kneecap is "a quintessentially British film" which is advocating "Irish freedom through drugs".
The west Belfast group which raps about drugs, Irish nationalism and the Troubles, star in a movie loosely based on their own lives that came out last year.
The film, also called Kneecap, has been nominated for six BAFTAs, shortlisted for two Academy Awards and nominated for two Oscars.
But east Belfast non-subscribing Presbyterian minister Rev Chris Hudson believes the film is following strongly in the tradition of British drugs culture films like Trainspotting and Quadrophenia.
"It's a film about identity within the context of the United Kingdom. And that identity issue can be around, say, a Pakistani living in Bradford, Scottish identity, or in this case, the whole issue around the Irish language [in Belfast]."
This stands in stark contrast to films in Irish, Basque or Catalan which contain "no politics".
"But in Kneecap they are screaming at the authorities, 'Look at us. What about us? And what about our minority language?'
"And that is very quintessentially British, in the pluralist nature of British politics and society."
He added: "The film was also suggesting that drug culture is the norm amongst young people, particularly in West Belfast. So I jokingly see the nature of the film as - 'We will free Ireland through drugs'."
He likened this to the "big joke" in Dublin where he grew up that people who only became republicans when drunk and listened to the Wolfe Tones were "The freedom through Porter [beer] movement".
While he does not believe the film is advocating violence, he notes the band uses imagery like a burning police Land Rover, that they are named after a paramilitary style attack, and their use of the republican cry 'Tiocfaidh ár lá'.
"All these things are associated with paramilitary violence".
He also sees the character played by Hollywood A-lister Michael Fassbender as "nostalgic for the days of the armed struggle".
"The dilemma that we're confronted with now is that the biggest party in Northern Ireland still cannot say that the 30 years of armed conflict which took lives was wrong. Not only do they say it was inevitable, but they say they see a level of justification for it, and in an ambiguous way, Kneecap are carrying on that narrative.”
"But we're allowing young people to imbibe on the alleged heroics of the 30 year conflict. And be very careful with that, because we could be creating the narrative for another conflict.”
As a “modest” Irish speaker, he is also concerned that the group are claiming the Irish language for a narrow group of people.
"Are they claiming that the Irish language is theirs - the property of Irish nationalists? Because if that's the case that would fly in the face of what's happening in East Belfast with the promotion of the Irish language there and Linda Irvine.
"I got a feeling it was claiming the Irish language as the property of a particular tribe in Northern Ireland."