‘Each and every one of them is no good…’
In a modern world dominated by the suffocating death throes of capitalism, there is something very cinematic about the British and Irish traveller community – as evidenced by Brad Pitt’s memorable take on their unique way of life in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. Director Ian Palmer’s labour of love (it took 12 years to film and remains his only film credit to date) takes us into the heart of the big money world of bare knuckle boxing within the traveller community. Rather than Guy Ritchie’s unintelligible Brad Pitt sculpted out of iron, the real traveller bare knuckle boxing bouts feature unintelligible, out of shape men, that are trapped in a death spiral of toxic masculinity. And it’s fascinating…
The Quinn-McDonagh family and the Joyce clan are ensnared in a decades long feud with vague origins. Every few months or so, the two families will try to settled the bad blood between them with a day of bare knuckle boxing, with fights often continuing for hours. Palmer’s gentle narration offers valuable insight into this unique culture whilst leaning into the fact that all of it is macho posturing. Something that the men themselves seem to realise.
The great strength of Knuckle is that it never reduces the men to monkeys behind glass, instead trying to go deeper into what makes them tick. This results in a refreshingly unique take on the traveller community that never feels exploitative or sensationalist. Palmer himself begins to question his own motivations out loud towards the end of the doc, offering some welcome pathos in an otherwise violent and mostly depressing spectacle.
Knuckle will never receive the wide audience it deserves and this is a shame because it’s probably the definitive cinematic statement about this community and their traditions.