BBC在2018播出的纪录片Civilization绝对是当之无愧的鸿篇巨制。制作团队的视野之宏大，在开篇就一览无遗。 讲述文明，竟从讲述文明如何被残酷地毁去开始。伊斯兰国占领古城巴尔米拉之后，大肆摧毁遗迹和文物。这些先人的智慧结晶，经住了千百年来自然与人类战火的考验，却在恐怖分子的铁锤下毁于一旦。巴尔米拉博物馆馆长，81岁的哈立德·阿萨德，因为拒绝透露古城艺术品的隐藏地点，被斩首示众。为了起到恐吓作用，恐怖分子甚至把他的残躯挂在信号灯上，头置于两腿之间，并在一旁告示上将他称为邪神的崇拜者。 讲述文明，为何要从一段刚发生不久的鲜血淋漓的历史开始？ 主讲人之一西蒙·沙玛的一段话说出了原因。"We can spend a lot of time debating what civilisation is or isn't, but when its opposite shows up in all its brutality and cruelty and intolerance and lust for destruction, we know what civilisation is. We know it from the shock of its imminent loss as a mutilation on the body of our humanity. The record of humanity brims over with the rage to destroy. But it's also imprinted with the opposite instinct - to make things that go beyond the demands of food and shelter, things that make us see the world and our place in it in a different light."