The documentary only gives you a hint, mentioning "Nationalism is not the problem but the symptom. The problem is Spain and the European Commission." It would be a great start for those who not so familiar with the independence topics. However, if you are Spanish or European citizens, you may probably not be satisfied with it so much.
Pros:
Cons:
Interviews conducted by this documentary include leaders of political parties, journalists, political science and law scholars, social activists, and President Rajoy's chief of staff. You will see at the end that all of them are, no matter what their political position is, partially right and partially wrong. It is like an ancient Indian anecdote "blind men and an elephant."
Thanks to the relatively wide scope of interviews, you will at least able to find out what you do NOT know yet and how you can further research for yourself. In short, this documentary is for an agenda-setting purpose, not for comprehensive understanding.
Pros:
- Shed fresh light on disputes not only between the Spanish central government vs. the local Catalonian, but also pro- vs. anti-independence groups within Catalonia, and Pan-European vs. autonomy.
- Unbiased intensive interviews from both sides: pro and anti-independence groups.
- Throw questions about the ultimate definition of nationalism.
- Closely shadow key Catalonian political leaders (including the ousted President of Catalonia, Mr. Puigdemont now in Brussels) and successfully draw honest voices and mixed feelings from them.
- Quick visual overview of the bloody turmoil between Catalonian ordinary citizens and the Spanish armed police on the referendum day.
Cons:
- No analysis from an economic perspective, which is one of the most critical agendas to determine constituents' minds.
- No significant comments on the true reason(s) why some Catalonian are against the independence.
- Most of comments from experts are hyper conceptual (e.g. nationalism, democracy, populism, separation of power, nation state, and republic vs. constitutional monarchy)
- Very limited comments from the European Committee, which is reluctant to intervene in the Catalonian independence matters.
- Shallow comparison between Catalonia and other cases such as Brexit, Scotland and Canadian Quebec.
- Kick off the documentary with twenty-minute clips of Catalonian politicians without proper introduction, so I was very confused how to map their names, faces and political positioning.
Interviews conducted by this documentary include leaders of political parties, journalists, political science and law scholars, social activists, and President Rajoy's chief of staff. You will see at the end that all of them are, no matter what their political position is, partially right and partially wrong. It is like an ancient Indian anecdote "blind men and an elephant."
Thanks to the relatively wide scope of interviews, you will at least able to find out what you do NOT know yet and how you can further research for yourself. In short, this documentary is for an agenda-setting purpose, not for comprehensive understanding.