"Volem La Pilota"

2 December 2024

7 mins 49s

More than a club, more than a game.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of FC Barcelona to its city, to its citizens, and to the whole state of Catalonia. The club has a swagger which is recognised throughout the world. If their El Classico rivals Real Madrid are The Beatles then Barca are Jimi Hendrix. If Real Madrid are Microsoft, then Barca are Apple.

This magnificent film from director Leigh Powis captures the essence of the football club's charisma in a bravura sequence of pyrotechnic brilliance that places FC Barcelona in its political context as a bastion of the anti-fascist movement that ultimately toppled General Franco, as well as expressing the reductive joy of football itself by reminding the audience of its gorgeous simplicity.

It is this contradictory duality that fans instinctively celebrate whenever they pull on their distinctive replica shirts and head down to the Camp Nou to commune with the players honoured to wear the blue and garnet stripes on the field of play. It's simplistic to think of this as mere support... the transaction is so much more complicated than that with love flowing in both directions.

Never mind those stupid tests where you have to spot traffic lights in a grid of pictures to determine whether or not you are human, you should be shown this film instead. If, by its end, your heart isn't racing and the hairs on the back of your neck aren't saluting the sky, it's time to admit that you are, in fact, a robot.

Spain

Football Clubs