Testament (1983)

If you are someone who cries easily, Testament will undoubtably make you cry. Almost made me cry. Released in 1983, the nuclear holocaust film was originally going to be a television film, but was moved to a theatrical release two weeks before the more famous nuclear war TV movie The Day After aired. The film stars Jane Alexander, William Devane, and features then-unknown actors such as Kevin Costner and Rebecca De Mornay, right off of her success in Risky Business. The film tells the story of a small suburban town about 90 minutes from San Francisco. The Wetherly family is the main focus of the film. The family consists of Carol (Alexander), her husband Tom (Devane), and their three children, Brad, Mary Liz, and Scottie. One afternoon, while Tom is at work, the television is interrupted with a message from the President of the United States, who issues a nuclear attack warning, from who? The Soviets? Terrorists? Neither the characters nor the viewer ever find out. Suddenly, there is a bright flash outside. Notice how I said flash and not mushroom cloud, not a single one is shown in the film. Residents of the town begin running outside, confused. There has been no blast damage whatsoever, as the town was far enough away from the nearest city that was hit: San Francisco, where Tom works. He never ends up coming home. While the town escaped blast damage, the residents fail to realize that the radioactive fallout has already made its way into town... and that fatal consequences for many of the residents are to follow. The film is incredibly depressing for numerous reasons. The high death count in the film is no exception, being so high, the town cemetery completely fills up. There are no ages in the film that are exempt from dying, none. Despite the amount of people that die, not a single person is shown dying on screen. The film also depressingly reminds the viewer in several ways throughout the film that life will absolutely never be the same way again. The films taglines as well as the original trailer even flat out remind the viewer that fact. If you don’t want to cry, don’t watch this movie. I rate this film GREAT on the scale.