Best movies & TV Shows like The Silk Road

Looping, chugging and barreling by, the trains in Benning's latest monumental film map a stunning topography and a history of American development. RR comes three decades after Benning and Bette Gordon made The United States of America (1975), a cinematic journey along the country’s interstates that is keenly aware “of superhighways and railroad tracks as American public symbols.” A political essay responding to the economic histories of trains as instruments in a culture of hyper-consumption, RR articulates its concern most explicitly when Eisenhower's military-industrial complex speech is heard as a mile long coal train passes through eastern Wyoming. Benning spent two and a half years collecting two hundred and sixteen shots of trains, forty-three of which appear in RR. The locomotives' varying colors, speeds, vectors, and reverberations are charged with visual thrills, romance and a nostalgia heightened by Benning's declaration that this will be his last work in 16mm film.

In a sleepy mountain town nestled in rural America, seven foreign exchange students set out to tackle the 'American Dream'.

Joe Mulholland, Head of Production at a Hollywood studio, makes a rather fool-hardy promise to a dying friend. He undertakes to make a major movie using the title - if not the content - of a best-selling sex manual "Love in Sex". Enlisting the help of depressed screenwriter Herb Derman and rather off-centre director Sid Spokane to try and come up with an idea or two, Joe soon wishes he was not one of those people who always try to keep their promises.

Four very different people live in the same building but avoid each other because of differences in how they live their lives, what they believe in, and where they come from. They would probably never exchange a word, but misfortune pushes them towards each other. Their lives entangle in ways that profoundly challenge deep-held beliefs and prejudices surrounding material status, sexual orientation, nationality and religion. Slowly, and even painfully, they begin to open up to each other and recognize the essential humanity each of them possesses.

Writer Tom Fort drives the 92-mile length of the A303 in a lovingly-restored Morris Traveller. Along the way he has many adventures - he digs up the 1960s master plan for the A303's dreams of superhighway status; meets up with a Neolithic traveller who knew the road like the back of his hand; gets to know a section of the Roman 303; uncovers a medieval murder mystery; and discovers what lies at the end of the Highway to the Sun.

Carl Sagan covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe.

Tory! Tory! Tory! is a 2006 BBC television documentary series on the history of the people and ideas that formed Thatcherism told through the eyes of those on the New Right. It was nominated for the best Historical Documentary at the Grierson Awards in 2006.

Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles traces the development of Western civilization, from the first cities in Mesopotamia to the fall of the Roman Empire. In this six-part series, Miles travels through the Middle East, Egypt, Pakistan and the Mediterranean to discover how the challenges of society -- religion and politics, art and culture, war and diplomacy, technology and trade -- were dealt with and fought over in order to maintain a functioning civilization. Stories are told of disappeared, ruined and modern cities, from ancient Iraq to modern Damascus, to reveal how successes and failures of the ancients shaped the world today.

Tony Robinson explores the weird and wonderful history of belief, superstition and religious experience in Britain. For 2000 years, Britain has been a Christian country. Or has it? In fact, our ancestors actually kept many other dark, fantastical beliefs alive. It was a world underpinned by outlandish, dangerous and plain weird beliefs. Ideas that today seem unbelievable, but were seen as uncontroversial and hugely influential, with some having shaped our history as much as mainstream religion

Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure is a four-part British documentary television series that aired on BBC Two. Chefs Ken Hom and Ching He Huang, both Chinese food specialists, describing their travels through China and the recipes and personal stories they find there.Hom and Huang will travel to Beijing, learning about Peking Duck, and on to the Silk Road, Kashgar, and the Sichuan Province,together bringing a unique and authoritative perspective on Chinese food that will surprise and inform.Ken and Ching undertake an epic 3000-mile culinary adventure across China - not only to reveal its food, but its people, history, culture and soul.BBC Books has acquired and published the title to accompany the BBC Two series of four hour-long episodes.

Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life is a three-part television documentary presented by Richard Dawkins which explores what reason and science might offer in major events of human lives. He argues that ideas about the soul and the afterlife, of sin and God's purpose have shaped human thinking for thousands of years. He believes science can provide answers to some of these old questions we used to entrust to religion.

Mankind The Story of All of Us is an epic 12-hour television event about the greatest adventure of all time—the history of the human race. It takes 10 billion years for the ideal planet to form and 3 billion more for the right conditions to emerge before it finally happens: mankind begins. From there unfolds a fast-paced story told here through key turning points—stepping stones in our journey from hunter-gatherer to global citizen. It’s a tale of connections—why some ideas take hold and spread around the globe, and how the lives of people in one part of the world are shaped by events in another.

The defining biography of a decade, as told through exclusive interviews with more than 40 icons, entertainers and innovators who shaped its identity.

Covering the ancient world through the age of technology, this illustrated lecture by Eugen Weber presents a tapestry of political and social events woven with many strands — religion, industry, agriculture, demography, government, economics, and art. A visual feast of over 2,700 images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art portrays key events that shaped the development of Western thought, culture, and tradition. This series is also valuable for teachers seeking to review the subject matter.

Historian and author Helen Castor, presenter of the popular series She-Wolves, explores how the people of the Middle Ages handled the most fundamental moments of transition in life: birth, marriage and death. In doing so she reveals how people in the medieval world thought and what they believed in. For the people of the Middle Ages the teachings of the Catholic Church shaped thoughts and beliefs across the whole of Western Europe. But by the end of the Middle Ages the Church would find itself in the grip of momentous change and the way of medieval birth, marriage and death would never be quite the same again.

Food has driven nearly everything we've done as a species, yet it's an overlooked aspect of human history. Whether for meat or sugar, snacks or beer, humanity's appetite has altered the planet, shaped our history, changed our future and made us "us".

Janina Ramirez discovers how monasteries shaped all aspects of medieval Britain and created a dazzling array of art, architecture and literature, a story of faith, sacrifice, violence and corruption.

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch explores how Christianity has shaped western attitudes to sex, gender and sexuality throughout history

It spans over 5,000 years of history that have shaped the world. It is full of spectacular sites and epic stories and an evolving society of inventors, heroes, heroines, villains, artisans and pioneers. Professor Joann Fletcher reveals the highs and lows of the most beguiling civilisation in humanity’s rich history in this four-part series made for BBC2.

The sexual revolution is alive and thriving. National Geographic Channel examines a once-taboo subject that is now impacting every aspect of society, from pop culture and science to politics and social interaction. The six-part series explores how sex is increasingly permeating contemporary cultures around the world, shaping lives by becoming more visible via the Internet, advertising, education and the media. Archival footage, animation, interviews and re-creations help uncover surprising ways sex impacts humanity and how societal conditions have changed over the past 50 years.

Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg dynasty and home to the Holy Roman Emperors. From here, they dominated middle Europe for nearly 1,000 years. In this series, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore describes how the Habsburgs transformed Vienna into a multi-national city of music, culture and ideas. Napoleon, Hitler, Mozart, Strauss, Freud, Stalin and Klimt all played their part.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. takes a look at the history of Africa, from the birth of humankind to the dawn of the 20th century. A breathtaking and personal journey through two hundred thousand years of history, from the origins, on the African continent, of art, writing and civilization itself, through the millennia in which Africa and Africans shaped not only their own rich civilizations, but also the wider world.

From The Creators Of The Best-Selling Documentary Series "Up From Slavery"... A 7-Part Compelling Journey Through America's Greatest Saga. In 1860, the nation founded upon an idea that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness had as many as four hundred thousand slave-owners and almost four million slaves. By denying these rights to more than twelve percent of its population, America would soon pay with the blood of a generation. The story of African Slavery in America started with the first permanent English Colony in the 17th century... and ended with the Civil War. But those two hundred and fifty years of struggle were just the beginning. The beginning of a journey down the long Emancipation Road...

A challenging and stimulating view of one of history's most enigmatic periods, shining a light on the people and events that shaped the decade while illuminating the trends that helped design our future.

Take a mind-blowing journey through human history, told through six iconic objects that modern people take for granted, and see how science, invention and technology built on one another to change everything.

A captivating voyage into the world of intellectual exploration, where host Bryan Magee engages in illuminating dialogues with some of the most distinguished thinkers of the last century. Join Magee in riveting conversations with eminent guests like Herbert Marcuse, A. J. Ayer, John Searle, Noam Chomsky, Iris Murdoch, and W.V. Quine, as they unravel the complexities of philosophy, language, politics, and culture. From the radical reevaluation of Marxism by Herbert Marcuse to the profound insights on language by John Searle and Noam Chomsky, this series presents a tapestry of thought that has shaped our understanding of existence. With each episode, "Men of Ideas" offers a unique window into the minds of these leading philosophers, making it an intellectually invigorating experience for both avid scholars and curious minds alike.

Explore one of humanity’s most primal and destructive emotions – hate. At the heart of this timely series is the notion that if people begin to understand their own minds, they can find ways to work against hate and keep it from spreading.

Host Padma Lakshmi takes audiences on a journey across America, exploring the rich and diverse food culture of various immigrant groups, seeking out the people who have so heavily shaped what American food is today.

The mavericks who shaped American culture.

Sees the Royal Ballet star follow in the footsteps of the Queen as she sets out on a regal adventure across the magnificent landscapes of Britain and visits a raft of breathtaking locations that have shaped our monarch's identity. English

Joanna Lumley sets off on one of her most epic voyages yet, a journey through the world’s greatest spice continents to discover the rich tapestry of flavours and cultures which have shaped our world. Touring Indonesia, Zanzibar, India and Madagascar, Joanna explores the centuries-old spice trade in this brand new four-part series of discovery.

Jonathan Phillips attempts to find the answer to the question: How did Christianity grow and develop from just a small, Jewish sect to the largest, and majority, dominant religion of the West?

Follow Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s search for the people, ideas, traditions, and attitudes – the solutions – which will transform fear of the future into hope, climate angst into optimism and human disconnection into engagement. In each of the six episodes, Nikolaj and his affable team criss-cross the globe exploring humanity, witnessing its power for good and learning about some of the remarkable solutions (both old and new) that inspire his optimism for the future.

An eight-part docuseries capturing the story of one man’s remarkable 33-day journey cycling 3,000 miles across the United States on a mission to engage with people from all walks of life in real conversations about faith, their stories and things that matter most.