Barça Dreams

The documentary covers more than a century of FC Barcelona: from Joan Gamper, who founded the club in 1899, through the Cruyff years to the generation raised at La Masia and Guardiola's side. At the centre of the account is the club's claim about itself, that Barcelona is not only a football team but a carrier of Catalan identity. The Franco years and the club's place in them are part of the telling. That is also the film's limit: the account is built entirely from the club's own point of view. Messi, Iniesta, Cruyff, Guardiola and executives speak; there is no critical voice and no competing reading. The club's commercial growth, its sponsorship decisions and the arguments of recent years find almost no room. Against that, the archive material is broad and the passages on how the playing idea was assembled are substantial. It is a film made for people who already love the club, not one trying to persuade anyone.