Testament

source: Testament

A number of the reviewers seem very confused. Yes, there are scenarios where any preparedness, reaction or evacuation would be pointless. A full exchange of 2/3 or more of the the nuclear weapons in the world would make life impossible or unbearable for pretty much everyone on the planet. BUT there are quite a few scenarios where 1-20 nuclear or thermonuclear devices would be the total amount detonated, and in that case abut 99-90% of humanity would survive with no harm and people who lived near but not directly under a detonation would be well served by understanding the basics about survival and specifically avoiding direct or fallout based harm. for sample th largest nuke N. Korea is postulated to have is 150 KT. The largest that will fit on their largest missile is 10 KT. Even assuming the largest (which they have no missile to carry) if you live in a suburb seven miles north west of Honolulu and a North Korean 150 KT bomb goes off over Honolulu, you only bomb effect danger is fallout (and only if the wind goes the wrong way), and getting to shelter or in your basement with one foot of soil over the basement windows or if no basement, best in Hawaii suburbs would actually be to open a manhole and get down in there. A basic plan, a week or two or water in your home, a firearm to keep looters at bay, would make the difference between surviving unscathed vs having to go out and getting serious fallout exposure. Also there are many scenarios where terrorists would get a bomb or several and where people very near a detonation side but outside the thermal blast, outside the 5 psi pressure wave would live fine or get fatal doses of radiation dependent entirely on preparedness steps they had taken and or their basic understanding. So sure if you live in DC, NYC or the top 100 cities, or near a major military or government installation and there were a full nuclear war, you'd be toast. But ironically in today's world a limited number of smaller bombs is actually more likely than a major nuke exchange.

I had to see it, and I felt as I did when reading Alas Babylon: Nice drama, but I cannot suspend my disbelief, and that takes away from my enjoyment of the drama. The population is worried about things like trash pickup, rites for the dead, and manages to put on a children's play at school. I must believe that in the event of a nuke attack, civilization will end and the world (even in the suburbs) will descend into the state of nature within hours not days. Still, there are some poignant moments, including the daughter's talk with her mother about sex, the symbolism of the bicycle and the "bad" kid stealing food. The scene of the boy (Brad) riding his bike along a trail as graves are dug to me was great. In fact, the actor who played Brad (Ross Harris) deserves kudos, and if the story had been focused on him from the beginning it would have been better. So if you can believe that certain aspects of civilization will remain, you may be affected by this movie.

Indescribably bad, ridiculous to the very last detail, unrealistic to the point of absurdity, unbearably cheesy. I can see just one positive point in this film, if someone is interested in knowing what the aftermath of a nuclear attack would NEVER be like then this film is for you. Well, and seeing Kevin Costner and Rebecca de Mornay for a few minutes on screen (although playing as ludicrous roles as the rest of the cast) might also satisfy some. Many here compare positively this film to Threads and The Day After... I suppose you are joking, right?. These two films are orders of magnitude more realistic, better done, acted and produced than this sad Testament. Anyway the best post-nuclear apocalyptic film is not either of these two actually; watch Dead Man's Letters, a Russian 1986 Konstantin Lopushanskiy's film and judge by yourself. Many of the comments claim that the film does not pretend to give a realistic account of a post-nuclear Armageddon but just show the psycological and social effects on the life of a community and a family... Yeah, that's obvious, but I cannot think of a more cheesy and clumsy way to depict this. I think the makers of this film did not just lack any knowledge whatsoever on what the effects of a nuclear attack would be like, but also on how the human psyche works at the most very basic level; the script of this film seems to have been written by someone below an age of 12. Summarizing, a terrible experience, once you get to the final scene you wish the nuke would have exploded right in the middle of the village and thus the film would have lasted just 10 min.

I just watched this film (OCT 2005) and after the fanatical panic this country (USA) went through after the 9-11 attacks, I found the film boring. Not to belittle the impact of 9-11 but if there was a nuclear attack rather than a couple of buildings being blown up by terrorists I would suspect something ala Mad Max or Blade Runner rather than the bland view this movie gives us. There was just enough blood and bodily function to horrify the timid and complacent. But that's not what would have or will happen if we are ever subject of attack that threatens to wipe out the entire country. To it's credit, it does mention Marshall law once in a fleeting moment in the film but that's about as close as this movie gets to being real. To me this was a feel good made for TV type film and not a very interesting one.

This is one of those films that is very draining to watch, but worth it. It is a slightly more tame approach to the subject matter, but excellently done. It is often compared with "Threads", which many people think is too graphic. Regardless, I like both films. I have to say that "Testament" will look more realistic to rural people, who may just die slowly as the characters in this film do, rather than be subjected to the immediate effects of the attack. Rebecca De Mornay's appearance in this film, which I only saw after seeing "By Dawn's Early Light", makes a connection between these two films. Everyone should see both films at least once, as well. Excellent performances from Rossie Harris and Mako make this film stand out even further. Having seen "The Day After" now, I prefer "Testament" but find both films excellent.

Oh dear God, I wish I'd never seen this movie. It was shown to me in high school, so I didn't feel comfortable just getting up and leaving class. How I wish I'd had more guts. If "end of the world" movies are your thing, then absolutely go see this one. It's terribly famous and a very good movie for that genre. I abhor that genre. Anything futuristic scares the pants off me, let alone "end of the world" movies. Literally, my bones start crawling, I get a sickeningly panicked feeling in my tummy, and I burst into tears. And it's all because of Testament. Testament was the first "end of the world" movie I saw, and it has scarred me for life. Normally, I don't give spoilers during my reviews, but this one is pretty obvious. I can't really mention the plot without giving things away. The plot: We get nuked and die. There you go! If you really want to put yourself through that, be my guest. I am giving you my strongest anti-recommendation I can give, since I reacted so negatively to this movie. I couldn't stop crying all day, even in P.E., and I had nightmares for weeks. And even now, years later, I can't even listen to the news without panicking. This movie is one of the, if not the, biggest tearjerkers I've ever seen. So if you do go against my recommendation, bring a Kleenex box. And then get ready to curse Terms of Endearment for coming out in the same year; Jane Alexander lost the Best Actress Oscar that year.

Pretty much all of the positive reviews listed here echo my opinion of this film (subtle, powerful, honest, depressing), so I won't beat the dead horse and describe how terrific of a film this is. I just wanted to add that James Horner's score, one of his first, is downright brilliant and deserves an official release on CD. Listen to it and treat it as the foundation for most of his future "dramatic" scores, such as "Titanic" and "Apollo 13." James Horner is one of the few composers that can make me cry with his music alone, and I believe it is because I am reminded of this film when I hear it. *****SPOILER***** The scene in which the young japanese boy (a remarkable performance, considering he is mentally handicapped in real life and surprisingly never mentioned in any of these reviews) finds the missing toy bear caused possibly the most emotional response from me that I have ever experienced while watching a movie. Testament, as of this date, is most definately the saddest film I have ever seen. I have never been more emotionally drained. It's ending ranks up there with the original "Resurrection" as one of the most haunting endings I have ever seen.

This movie is virtually unknown in Europe and I can see why. The problem is in incredible naivety about how the nuclear war could look like. Behavior of main characters is not only stupid, it is actually suicidal - as for example in the German movie The Cloud (2006). I'm stunned into disbelief how many Americans do consider this movie to be "realistic" or "better than The Day After or Threads". Actually it is absolutely unreal emotional soap opera written by someone who was not only lazy to get basic information about nuclear warfare, but even didn't bother to get some information from survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I have expected that Americans as expected participants in the nuclear exchange have been trained in basic survival skills. OK, so there is light from the blast, let's crouch behind the couch! And let's go outside for walks and forming orderly line for bottled water. People dying by radiation poisoning look like they have an influenza. Wow. So let's sit, use our last batteries for playing sad music and be sad in general. What's that? Sort of romantic family movie about dying? Because the nuclear exchange / terrorism still cannot be ruled out, let's sum up what to do in case of nuclear attack that kinda missed your residence. (If you have been hit directly without warning, you will probably evaporate, will be killed by pressure wave, will burn in the fires or suffocate. So any attempt to survive is basically based on assumption you will need to face only secondary effects.) First you need to try to grab as much water from the water duct as immediately possible because this is likely the very last clean source of water. Then you need to hide in the cellar with protection of at last half of the meter of soil or you need to put as much mass of anything between outside and yourselves. You need to stay at least 14 days inside and that means you cannot even bring out the dead or take a leak. The clean water should be used for drinking only, water outside cannot be used, especially rain water. After 14 days you can spent about 1 hour outside for burials, taking waste outside and searching for food. Keep outside activity for bare minimum and avoid physically intensive tasks at that point. If you do not have gas mask, then use the wet cloth as the minimum breathing protection. The cloths used for going outside must be kept isolated near the exit if you cannot wash it. This kinda might help to survive. Never ever go immediately outside even for church or children's play, otherwise you will see the real effects of radiation poisoning that is way way way worse than shown in this soap opera. If you plan to behave as people in this "realistic" movie, please save yourselves from the suffering and use your gun to shorten your suffering. In the end you might survive. Do not expect the remains of your culture to be so nice a clean as in this soap opera, you will end up in pretty messy dark ages. After that you may try to survive the real long term effect as radioactive poisoning of soil, failure of agriculture and general harshness of life. It will be bad but not as bad as this crappy uninformed movie.

1983..The cold war was in full swing and the fear of nuclear armageddon hung over all our heads. ABC released "The Day After", (which I have already commented on) but in all the furor around that, "Testament" was released. This is THE 1980's nuclear war film. It doesn't deal with the effects on an entire community, but rather on one small, close knit family in California. Jane Alexander's performance was one of legend, and is possibly one of the classic dramatic performances of all time. The day begins innocently enough, dad heads off to work, the kids watch "Sesame Street"..then the Emergency Broadcast System cuts in and the world stops. Ignore all the Y2K mumbo-jumbo and put yourself back in 1983 (most of us know where we were) and watch this film. You may not be "entertained", but you will appreciate what you have just a bit more.