by Hugo Wong, Sub edited by Ishan Athawle
FC Barcelona: Una Nueva Era II (A New Era) is the second season of a two-season documentary covering FC Barcelona’s 22-23 campaign. Directed by Marc Pons Molina, this four-episode documentary follows the Catalan’s league-winning season.
It started with Xavi Hernandez‘s first full season as the head coach of Barca, joined by new signings including Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, and Brazilian star Raphinha. But the turning point? Massive losses to Real Madrid in the El Clasico’s and key Champions League matches, which saw the Catalan Giants into unfamiliar territory – the Europa League.
The final episode focuses on the season-defining El Clasico at Camp Nou, where FC Barcelona ultimately secured the La Liga title for the first time in four years. The documentary also dedicated special attention to two retiring legendary players – Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, capturing their emotions and gratitude to the club and its fans.
Embed from Getty ImagesFC Barcelona: Una Nueva Era II primarily focused on monologue interviews from the players and coaches, mixed with dressing room speeches, training montages and play-by-play commentary. This gives the audience a mixture of audio and visual experience, even for viewers who are not die-hard fans of FC Barcelona. Also, the documentary followed a chronological timeline, which is often easier for audience to get a grasp at the narrative.
After watching all four episodes of the documentary, I have learned the importance of the role of turning points in sports storytelling. A smooth season might not hold viewer’s attention, but a narrative consisting comebacks and struggles makes the ending far more compelling to viewers.
I was also intrigued with the growth of Xavi Hernandez. At first the documentary portrayed him as an inexperience coach, with a footage of him rewarding the team a meal if the team scores two goals in the first 30 minutes of the game. As episodes passed by, the manager eventually moved away from meaningless incentives and shifted to a more pragmatic approach to motivate the team.