Testament (1983)

She smiled all through the show

I used to work for Lurene Tuttle, an actress in this movie. She played the wife of Leon Ames, who has the only working ham radio in town. There's a scene at their home and Lurene says something about reaching a man in Oklahoma, I think. I haven't seen the movie in years. The only time I watched it was with Lurene, and even tho the subject matter is so terribly sad and disturbing, she smiled all through the show. When it was over, I was ready to cry, but she looked at me and chattered away about the wonderful setting, the costumes, the camera man, etc. etc. NOT a word about the plot. But after being in theater and movies for almost 70 years, I guess she looked at other things..... I didn't even know this movie had been released. I'll had to add it to my Lurene Tuttle collection. Lurene is the red-head in the movie "Niagara," played Jack Lemmon's mother in "Fortune Cookie, " and also in "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken." September 11, 2008

Whoops apocalypse!

I must have radiation poisoning as this pile of over-sentimental schmaltz had me feeling nauseous and reaching for the sick bag for it's entire length.

I cannot believe the 50 five-star reviews - there's a part of me that's convinced everyone was viewing a different movie. I watched the entire thing waiting for the film that everybody seems to have rated so highly to arrive, sadly it never happened. I know this review will not make me Mr. Popular, but please, even Hallmark would be embarrassed to present this rose-tinted garbage.

There is not enough space here to list all the technical and logical faults but I would have hoped the producers would have at least tried to get some of the basic science right - but no - it seems the budget for an advisor was spent on Martha Stewart.

If you like your end-of-the-world scenarios served overly sweet in sugar coating this is the movie for you. If however you're looking for a realistic depiction of an all-out nuclear exchange avoid this one like ground zero.

The most exciting, and strangely scary, part of the entire film is the heroine grabbing a quick tongue wrestle off the priest - I kid you not. June 29, 2008

Pretty good considering it was 1983...

Early in the film, I got the impression that this could've been taken seriously upon it's release but may be kind of a joke now in 2008 (like 'The Net' for example). Anyway, it got morbidly bizarre as it progressed on. It wasn't what they showed, but what they didn't show that made some of that laughter turn to serious and puzzling thoughts. *Spoiler warning* The movie takes a turn when people begin dying from not-so-obvious signs of radiation poisoning, and they die by the thousands. By the time the shocking garage scene takes place you get a feeling of hopelessness. By the film's end you get no real resolution, no happy ending, which is why the films stuck with me as actually being bizarre and interesting as such post apocalyptic films should be. Sure there were a few bad spots scattered throughout the film, but I guess it shouldn't be judged by 2008 standards. Definitely for fans of Jericho - The First Season. March 17, 2008

Terrifying and uncontrived.

There are times in our lives, perhaps crossroads, where we can turn to the ones that surround us and think, in one way or another, what if this was their last trip to the store, what if this were their last holiday with us, what if this year was the very last time we would see them. In all its purpose, films on that same token come around every once and again, and show us, truly and significantly how important the art of cinema and film making can be. This powerful strong voice of something well grounded and objective, which can easily dig deep into the portals of our existence and show us, in no uncertain terms, how totally insignificant our lives can be in a blink of an eye, and yet how precious every moment of life is. Here then is Testament.

If Jane Alexander, [in that era of nuke films, which for some strange and wonderfully odd reason my mother and I were into during the time when I was nine and asking about Hitler's lover and why we waste so much money on going into space when other's can't afford a healthy meal to get through the day] isn't enough to know from jumpstreet that this film would be emotionally charged with an approach so totally imaginary, as to show us perhaps the aftermath of a nuclear strike and the days following, leaves much to be desired to the world's power elite. 'Silo 9' and 'The Day After' and a little hidden gem called 'Threads', all touch on the subject with distorted cut scences of disaster, and plastic molded horrors with scences of mass death and the like, yet leave the viewer empty because of lack of creative emotions. (Save Jason Robbards obviously who is brilliant) Yet nothing, nothing can take us into the heart of the beast, and that is what Testament does, drops us right in the middle of the motherload.

Jane Alexander is a determined mother who must pick the pieces up from a typical day, that leads to anything but a typical future for a ordinary family gutted by the days and weeks following a nuclear strike. Ms. Alexander never lets us escape the mentality that even though all is lost, the notion to move on, and to endure, is grippingly fascinating and totally real. Jane shows us the motherly love in the very lowest form's of mans cruelty, can be pure, non-contrived and utterly tangible. I never believed for once, that Jane was acting. I firmly believed I was watching, at some points, a real life documentary of her familie's life. The juxtaposition of the black and white home films of their lives before the strike, reminded me of a real family, facing real problems, in a real, true event that would and can happen. Jane lost children. Jane's hair will fall out. Jane will lose more children. Jane showed us the murder, the lust for love after losing a husband, the very coinage of our times during fallout and gives us the indication that with every reasonable notion, with every passing day, that indeed death approaches, and with that one must ascertain the situation in its entirety, and keep on being a mother. The Academy got this one right with a nom for Jane, and see the beginning of a career flourish with young Lukas Hass, pre Witness, and a cameo by Kevin Costner before his eruption into mainstream.

Testament doesn't show us any CGI, it can't pretend to be something it's not, because it simply sets us up for what ALL of us, at some time or another would fear to the very bones of our existence, that loud siren sound of imminent danger, and for all that Testament was, it reminds us of how utterly miserable the world could be, but at the same time, in a wonderful sense of being together, shows us how we are capable of such wonderful, amazing and joyous love.

Truly a masterpiece. December 19, 2007

The Lasting Effects of Nuclear War

This movie takes place in an area a ways from the targeted - being San Francisco but yet the impact and lasting effects of the nuclear attack are felt all the same. While "The Day After" and the UK-made "Threads" deliver a more grizzly picture - relying on the actual destruction, as they tend to focus on areas in which are the targets or are near such a target, this movie shows a community far away suffering all the same from the economical and radioactive fall out. This movie paints a grim and bleak situation with no real future as if to say that whether or not a nuclear war destroyed buildings and cities or not it's effects are devastating and will far outlive the war itself. December 13, 2007

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