Season seven of “Game of Thrones” ends this Sunday. If that means your Sunday nights are now devoid of purpose, don’t worry, Global Citizen has you covered.
We’ve compiled a list of seven movies and shows you can stream from the comfort of your home, expanding your worldview in the process and filling that Game of Thrones-shaped hole in your heart.
There are no dragons on this list, but some of these shows, movies, and documentaries will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat.
The White Helmets
The wars in Westeros always leave fans devastated, but nothing compares to the horrific loss of life that has occurred in Syria over the last six years. This Oscar-winning documentary follows the Syrian Civil Defense’s volunteer rescue workers — known as the “White Helmets” — as they risk their lives to provide emergency medical attention to civilians caught in the war. (Available on Netflix)
Fauda
Fauda, a series streaming on Netflix now, gives both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a human face.https://t.co/IxikrYcXqapic.twitter.com/EgNEAPdrUP
— The FADER (@thefader) January 25, 2017
“Fauda” is an Israeli political thriller many have compared to “Homeland” — which, by the way, was inspired by a different Israeli series. This series follows an elite counter-terrorism unit within the Israeli Defense Force, and though it’s fictional, it was inspired by co-creator Lior Raz’s time in the military. The series has been celebrated for the nuanced way in which it portrays the Israel-Palestine conflict, showing that borders can be blurred and that it is individual people, not faceless armies, whose lives are destroyed by fighting. (Available on Netflix)
Daughters of Destiny
This documentary goes inside the Shanti Bhavan school in Tamil Nadu in south India. The school is essentially a free boarding school for the “poorest of the poor” that aims to lift Dalit — also known as “untouchable” — community out of poverty one child at a time. The children who go to Shanti Bhavan are given food, shelter, an education and hope. “Daughters of Destiny” focuses on the female students because girls are typically the first to be denied an education in the Dalit community and in situations of poverty. (Available on Netflix)
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Cartel Land
“There’s an imaginary line out there between right and wrong, good and evil,” the leader of Arizona Border Recon, an anti-drug cartel paramilitary group, tells the makers of this film. This fast-paced documentary is like the real-life version of “Narcos” — which is terrifying. “Cartel Land” covers the war on drugs from both sides of the border, following vigilante groups in both the US and Mexico as they try to combat the drug cartels. The thrilling documentary provides an inside look into the danger and violence fueled by the illegal drug trade that’s causing Central Americans to flee to Mexico from more embattled countries like El Salvador and Honduras and causing Mexicans to head north to the US border. (Available on Netflix)
Do Not Resist
It’s hard to forget the photos of unarmed civilians in Ferguson facing off against heavily armed policemen and tanks. “Do Not Resist” takes a critical look at how law enforcement in the US came to have military-grade weapons and how that’s shifted law enforcement officers’ mindsets about their work. The documentary is both powerful and timely as police brutality remains a hot issue in American politics. (Available on iTunes and Amazon)
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Sand Storm
“Sand Storm” is set in the desert of Israel, but it’s not about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead, the award-winning film shows the conflict between new and old, the tension between upholding tradition and embracing modernity within a Bedouin family. The story unfolds in a patriarchal society in which daughters are things to be married off, making it easy to write male characters off as the film’s villains, but “Sand Storm” shows that nothing is black and white. Traditions take time to evolve and change can be slow to happen, even with willing agents. (Available on Netflix)