It's interesting to see how many comments refer to "Testament" in the same context with "The Day After" and "Threads." For me, this movie was so much different and more moving. The other two films highlight, if nothing else, the absolutely grisly horror of an all-out nuclear assault and its aftermath, and at least a few of the commentators were correct -- "Threads," for example, makes "Testament" look positively cheery by comparison. I would say, though, that this movie owes more in its theme to "On the Beach," in that it showcases the efforts of survivors of a nuclear war to maintain some semblance of their previous lives and try to carry on in the face of the inevitable.
(Spoiler) So many writers here have talked about the various scenes that had such an impact on them, and all of them are right on target. The acting lends enormous power to all of the ones mentioned -- the scenes between the incomparable Jane Alexander and Roxana Zal, the scene where Brad (Rossie Harris) brings his handicapped friend Hiroshi (Gerry Murillo in a marvelously sincere performance) home to live with him after Hiroshi's father has succumbed to radiation sickness, the scene where the school children continue on with their performance of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," and so on. For me, though, the scene where Ms. Alexander's character helps her youngest son Scottie (Lukas Haas) go to the bathroom in the sink, then rocks with him while they softly sing lullabies together one last time before he dies was the hardest one to bear, and yet I find it mesmerizing. My youngest son is about the same age Mr. Haas was when he acted in this film, and he looks altogether too much like Mr. Haas at that age for it NOT to affect me very much indeed.
Hopefully most people who see this movie are not so desensitized as to miss the point of the film just because there isn't an explicit explanation as to who launched the attack and why. Really, how does that matter in the scheme of things here? I will say this, though -- I'd be hard-pressed to imagine a parent, either with young children or who can remember when their children were younger, who cannot identify with this beautiful, but terrifying movie. If we've "dodged a bullet," so to speak, as a race, if the Cold War as we knew it is really over, then we should all either thank the Lord above or our lucky stars, whatever your theological persuasion, that we never had to experience the grim events that are so eloquently portrayed in "Testament."
(Spoiler) So many writers here have talked about the various scenes that had such an impact on them, and all of them are right on target. The acting lends enormous power to all of the ones mentioned -- the scenes between the incomparable Jane Alexander and Roxana Zal, the scene where Brad (Rossie Harris) brings his handicapped friend Hiroshi (Gerry Murillo in a marvelously sincere performance) home to live with him after Hiroshi's father has succumbed to radiation sickness, the scene where the school children continue on with their performance of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," and so on. For me, though, the scene where Ms. Alexander's character helps her youngest son Scottie (Lukas Haas) go to the bathroom in the sink, then rocks with him while they softly sing lullabies together one last time before he dies was the hardest one to bear, and yet I find it mesmerizing. My youngest son is about the same age Mr. Haas was when he acted in this film, and he looks altogether too much like Mr. Haas at that age for it NOT to affect me very much indeed.
Hopefully most people who see this movie are not so desensitized as to miss the point of the film just because there isn't an explicit explanation as to who launched the attack and why. Really, how does that matter in the scheme of things here? I will say this, though -- I'd be hard-pressed to imagine a parent, either with young children or who can remember when their children were younger, who cannot identify with this beautiful, but terrifying movie. If we've "dodged a bullet," so to speak, as a race, if the Cold War as we knew it is really over, then we should all either thank the Lord above or our lucky stars, whatever your theological persuasion, that we never had to experience the grim events that are so eloquently portrayed in "Testament."