Knuckle Released 5 August 2011 Director Iam Palmer Narrator Ian Palmer Producer(s) Teddy Leifer, Ian Palmer Origin Ireland, United Kingdom Running Time 85 minutes Genre Documentary Rating 15A

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(Literally) Hard-hitting.

In the past year or so the previously rather veiled and furtive world of Travellers has been garnering a huge amount of publicity. TV shows like Channel 4's gratuitously grotesque My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding have left jaws dropping in derision across the country. Vignettes of skimpily-clad girls 'grabbed' at the local horse fair and weddings where the bride is wearing a twenty stone dress complete with L.E.D butterflies have turned Travellers into almost pantomimical farce. Yet the inner workings of this nomadic ethnic group, the whispers of feuding clans and their rather shocking means of resolving familial tension, has remained somewhat of a mystery. Sure, Guy Ritchie took a decent stab at it with his 'poikeys' and their Artful Dodger ways, but the brutality of this world, the blood and broken teeth is so much a part of the Traveller community that it would be difficult for any Hollywood movie to do it justice.

Documentary filmmaker Ian Palmer spent twelve years videoing the brawls, taunts and idiosyncrasies of two Traveller clans-the Quinn-McDonaghs and their rivals (and cousins of course) the Joyces. What began as an innocuous contract to film a Traveller family wedding for Palmer soon turned into an obsessive quest to reveal and understand the evidently murkier side to Gypsy life. The simmering tensions, vendettas and loose grasp of fighting rules captured Palmer's fascination-being as it was diametrically opposed to anything he had ever experienced before- and with Handycam in tow and unparalleled access to fights he faithfully started recording. The result is rather extraordinary. Complete with an almost cartoon villain in the form of Big Joe Joyce, a moustachioed hulk in a mesh vest who claims to bathe his knuckle in pure petrol to toughen them, Knuckle gives us an unsettling glimpse into the Fight Club scenarios that underlie caravan life.

Knuckle's central character is James Quinn-McDonagh, the bald and burly prize fighter of the family whose knuckles are often called upon to settle disputes. Affable and cheerful on-screen, James reluctance to fight is well established at the beginning of the documentary. However within twenty minutes we see him switch from sunny to sinister as he knocks the teeth out of his opponent, a ginger-haired cousin whose own father admits he's a bit "slow." The fights themselves are extremely difficult to watch. Usually held on a lonely country road, only a small coterie of trusted 'neutrals' are allowed to observe proceedings. It's difficult to describe how visceral these fights actually are. One can literally feel every jab, every shove and even occassionally, every bite. And Palmer is right there, capturing it all. The rawness of the camera work, the stripped-down effect that Knuckle has only serves to reinforce the sheer aggression of it all.

The lingering bad-blood between the Quinn-McDonaghs and the Joyces appears to go back to a serious incident that occurred in 1992 but other than some vague and trite statements, the cause is never really satisfactorily explained. It would appear that even some of the younger generation have no idea why they're still fighting and therein lies the paradox at the heart of Knuckle. What compels these men, particularly those related by blood, to behave in such a cruel and unmerciful manner? Glib comments about how it's just Travellers' ways fail to satiate Palmer's curiosity and the real reason is almost imperceptibly hinted at by the filmmaker himself when he admits that although he tried to wean himself off taping the fights, he kept relenting and coming back. The thrill he felt at watching men box each other senseless was both indescribable and cathartic. While there is nothing funny about Knuckle, the documentary could well be viewed by some as a biting satire-whether that was Palmer's intention or not.

- Louisa McElwee