Testament (1983)

I wanted to but couldn't!

hyped garbage

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I will never forget this film. I saw it in a theatre in 1983. I also taught an abbreviated version of the screenplay to my English students. This is about a world without hope and what we do when that happens. I think about "Children of Men" or "Childhood's End" or "On the Beach" and what our human condition is when there is no future. This film with the amazing Jane Alexander has to do with selflessness and sacrifice when there is no endgame. The scene where love and sex are talked about with the dying daughter. The birthday party with the graham crackers and the jam when foodstuffs have dried up. The finding of the Teddy bear and so on. It's horrifying enough when a person knows he or she is going to die, but this is a world. Yet here are are again in 2017, still using the phrase, "if you start something, you will be wiped from the face of the Earth." Let us be diligent and not stupidly think that if it happens somewhere else, it's not going to affect everyone.

Let's say right now that a nuclear war started. What would you do first? Who would you want to be with? What could you afford to lose? What if you weren't prepared? These are questions we all wonder about once in a while, but of course, there is no nuclear war... right? Well, in The Testament, a depressing yet beautiful film featuring the last remaining town in America, this situation becomes real for the main character, Carol. A mother of three and married to a great guy, living in community of friendly people, she never considers that anything bad could ever happen to her little utopia suburb bubble.Then suddenly the power fails, radio becomes the only means of communication. It is discovered that a nuclear holocaust has wiped out much of the surrounding nation, and that the suburb has been affected only by the fallout... which leads to a fate worse than death.Brad, Carol's son, "adopts" a new friend into the family, Larry, who says his parents went to work in the city and never came back. Life, for the most part, continues as normal... but then the community succumbs to the radiation sickness, and even poor Larry and the kind radio broadcaster Henry have suffered terrible deaths. Brad and Carol are left sewing a shroud out of bedsheets for her daughter, Mary Liz, and Brad also "adopts" a disabled little boy, Hiroshi, bringing him to the house...But it's up to Carol to decide whether or not to control the fate of the two kids.This film, unlike Threads (1984), is not gory at all, in fact it shows very little, if any, death. You may think that to be boring but it leaves you to picture in your head just how awful the deaths of these people would be. The soundtrack... well, there isn't much in terms of soundtrack, which somehow makes it more realistic when you are left with empty silence. The acting is excellent and it's one of the best films I've seen. I think Hiroshi was the best played role, and it was wonderful to see a movie not referring to him as a "retard" just for having disabilities. But the most depressing parts of this movie are the brief visions Carol has of her old 8mm home videos. The videos themselves are memories of happy times, but the people in them are all dead, either vaporized by the bomb outside town, dead from radiation sickness or slowly waiting for the end. It makes us all realize how quickly we take the smallest moments for granted.DO NOT PASS UP THIS MOVIE, it's one of the saddest yet most hopeful ones you'll ever see.

"Testament" is a lovely little film that stands out among other productions of the time that dealt with the after effects of nuclear war. What it stresses more than anything is the *human* element: the toll taken on peoples' lives, the loved ones that they're forced to watch pass away before their eyes, and the desperation, anger, frustration, and inhumanity that are experienced. The story (authored by Carol Amen, and written for the screen by John Sacret Young) personalizes things by concentrating on a particular family, the Wetherlys, and how the matriarch, Carol (Jane Alexander) struggles to be strong for the sake of her children, how she so often manages to say just the right thing to them, and the ways that she shows compassion. Instead of showing us lots of spectacle, devastation, and going into the politics of the situation, Young and the director, Lynne Littman, sensitively handle the whole thing and give us characters that are relatable and sympathetic.The Wetherlys are among those in a tight knit small community that must face the reality of nuclear explosions on the continental U.S. and the fallout that slowly kills many of them. And they're very much an ordinary, loving family leading regular lives. We see Carol directing a school play, the patriarch,Tom (William Devane) interacting with his son Brad (Rossie Harris), the daughter Mary Liz (Roxana Zal) practicing her piano, etc. Together with youngest child Scottie (Lukas Haas, in his film debut), they find their lives forever changed when the unthinkable happens.The cast is wonderful all the way down the line. Alexander offers a rock solid presence as a warm, caring mother doing her best to carry on; she gives the film a solid foundation. Familiar faces in smaller roles include Lilia Skala as Fania, Leon Ames and Lurene Tuttle as the Abharts, Rebecca De Mornay and Kevin Costner as the Pitkins, and Mako as service station proprietor Mike.Now, "Testament" isn't always subtle about the way that it tugs at the heartstrings, but it's still powerfully affecting and impossible to forget. It doesn't offer any false hope and is right up front about the harsh realities that its characters must face...right to the end.Well worth a viewing overall, and an interesting contrast to telefilms like 'The Day After' and 'Threads'.Eight out of 10.

There are times when we ask ourselves in our subconscious what if this or that happened, what would we do, how would we react, how would we survive; even though it may not have happen now who's to say it won't tomorrow. This film is one of those rare films that actually broke my heart and made me cry, and it still does whenever I watch it again, it's also a film you never forget.The film is tragedy about the aftermath and what we would do and behave knowing that the world we used to live in, is gone. there are many things that I appreciate about this film, for one thing there are never any special effects. We see no big explosion or any other graphic details; instead it has a power of suggestion which actually works. We actually witness in documentary style what the end of the world could actually look like. From seeing long lines which take hours to wait to get groceries or even a tank of gas, the need for batteries which is one of the last sources of power, garbage is littered everywhere. But the two images that I found the most chilling were the breakdown in the Eco System, from seeing the leaves and vegetation turn brown and red, as well as the sky becoming darker from the dust the bombs spread and has blocked some of the sun and contaminating the air. The second image was seeing gravestones and crosses everywhere from back or front yards one neighborhood homes you would pass by. Down to the park and playground, just seeing several gravestones behind a playground and an empty swing now swinging emptily just made my heart bleed knowing kids use to play there.But what makes the film work the most is the characters themselves whom all feel like real people, both major and minor we actually get to know these people as if their people that could live in our neighborhood or pass by on the street. Were completely involved with these people and the significant moments that occur which can be touching and heartbreaking. From Carol (Jane Alexander) talking to her daughter Mary about love and sexuality which Mary will never experience, seeing Scottie (Lucas Haas) burying his action figures and thinking of running away, Carol watching a family film and listening to her husband's voice on an answering machine as if she's waiting for him to come back home. It even comes down to the minor characters and what happens around town, community leader (Leon Ames) through his radio communication activities we get a sense of what happened to the world, Phil (Kevin Costner) seeing him walk the sidewalk with a chest drawer to be used as a coffin for his baby, down to seeing the elementary school play "The Pied Piper which is a little ironic to the current situation since that play takes place in the years of "The Black Plague" an overwhelming catastrophe that cost hundreds of lives.However what makes the film all the more heartbreaking is there's a sense of familiarity to the film. The character Brad the oldest son I identify with because he is very much like myself when I was his age, the town reminds me of the towns I lived in. Even seeing the final family film footage reminds me of some of the multiple family film tapes that were made with my family. In the end of the film as the final characters pass away it made me break down and cry for a long while, just the knowledge knowing there was once a happy family with some happy memories are never going to be able to make any more. All these familiar things are things I don't think about too much but after seeing this film it made me think about how valuable all those little things really are to me.The lessons in this film are showing that no one wins in a nuclear war and the terrible results it produces. But mainly just how valuable life truly is and how little time we truly have to live it. These are lessons that should apply not just to our current era but the future in general.The family and other souls in this movie may pass away but will live in our hearts forever.Rating: 4 stars