Movie Junk Podcast Reference: Episode 961: Violent in Nature + TIFF 2024 (2024)
Chronology
When fate struck Belfast teacher J.J. introduces the confident 'low life foam' Naoise and Liam Og, needle drops work in hip hop like no other. Rapping in their native Irish, they lead a movement to save their native language. Ireland’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category; 97th Academy Awards in 2025. Arló Ó Cairelláin: Every word in the Irish language is a bullet fired for Irish freedom.
Belfast is performed by Orbital
This middle aged man brought his teenage son to see Kneecap and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was funny and engaging, i.e. there were no slow parts. By the time the ending came, I wanted more, at least an extra post-credits scene. I’m also a music fan and I especially enjoyed many parts of the film when the volume in the cinema turned up and we heard him rapping in Irish on the big screen.
Catholics could not vote
I am an American so I must point out that non-Irish people need to broaden their knowledge of history, including the troubles that thankfully culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in the 1990s, as well as what has been going on in Northern Ireland/Northern Ireland for the last several years if you want to appreciate all the funny jokes and references. A complicated history cannot be reduced to a couple of paragraphs, but I will try anyway. The English colonized Ireland and did all the horrible things that colonizing powers do – they stole land and resources, dispossessed the natives, and did everything they could to destroy Irish culture. It was not many centuries ago that the English forbade speaking Irish, practicing Catholicism or even dancing in Irish. Attempts at rebellion were brutally crushed.
The English also put down attempted rebellions in Scotland
The English then "planted" hundreds of thousands of loyal Lowland Scots and Englishmen in the resource-rich north of Northern Ireland. (The English, meanwhile, did their best to try to eliminate Highland Scots culture (look for the euphemism “Highland Clearances”), which is very similar to Irish culture, as Irish culture/language spread across the Irish Sea during their own expansion. Going back to the 5th century, actually the irish are responsible for giving scotland its name, but it is a different The earlier invaders of Ireland (Celts, Vikings, Normans) came with their different cultures, but eventually all assimilated and became Irish A distinctly British, pro-Union culture/nation developed in the north of Ireland, however,. throughout the island of Ireland, times were terrible for the native Irish stolen lands and many were given the opportunity to lease a small portion of their former lands at exorbitant payments to the British landlords economy to match their own profits Many local Irish farmers were forced to specialize in growing potatoes on their poor lands because it seemed easy to do so Unfortunately. , in the 1800s, potato crops were affected by blight, rendering them inedible.
Under armed guard, the British ordered them to be exported
Without food to eat or sell, the Irish starved or emigrated. What about the fish in the waters around the island or in the streams or rivers of Ireland? Although there were some English-language charities sending aid, the English/British government adopted a laissez-faire approach, clearly pointing out that the "Famine" it was the irish’s own fault that they reproduced too much due to their catholic beliefs and that they should be left to die to control the population. In some places where food was sent to the needy, it was necessary to convert to Protestantism in order to receive food.