Testament as an emotional wake-up call

Cold War Movie

There are several types of films for illustrating the Cold War period:

1. Dr. Strangelove ( 1964)  as acerbic satire: an absolutely insane scientist starts to process nuclear weapon war

2. On theBeach ( 1959 ), it’s a film about the the conflict has devastated the northern hemishpere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout  and killing all life. While the bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, air currents are slowly carrying the fallout south. The only areas still habitable are in the far southern hemisphere, like Austrialia as the last virgin land.  This film is also mentioned in Shapiro’s reading for the comparison of Testament.

As for Testament, it’s illustrated the” Cold War” in a very quite and senstive way.

It’s directed in such a ” normal” way, during the Cold War Era , things like this could literally happen. Women also play an important role in this type of the film,  Women are always the ones who wait for their husband to come back after the war ends. It’s a desperate film, hoping for the best would come but in the film the husband didn’t come back.

It’s more of an emotional wake-up because it’s so real, I believe it’s also happened to many widows during the wars.

Unlike other American films, it does not have a happy ending, it’s rather “realistic” in a way and sad. In my opinion, it’s illustrated the war movie in a more suitable way, women have to be strong to take care of the children and learn to be independent.

Testament (1983) SCREEN: ‘TESTAMENT,’ After A Nuclear Blast

Hello everyone,

I’ve found a review from” the N.Y Times:”

 

 

THE strategy of Lynne Littman’s disturbing ”Testament” is to depict the most enormous of disasters – a nuclear holocaust – in terms that are comparatively banal. In her effort to drive home the human cost of such a calamity, Miss Littman concentrates on the most ordinary details of life in a California town. For the Wetherly family, around whom the film revolves, the quintessentially humdrum day before the catastrophe is full of errands and squabbles and dirty laundry. Yet the very drabness of this day takes on poignancy when seen in the light of what follows.

The first half of ”Testament,” the section describing the family’s usual life, is contrasted with post-holocaust scenes, in which the Wetherlys watch the slow, grim decline of their community. Tom (William Devane), the gung-ho dad who has gone on a business trip to San Francisco, has not been heard from since the awful moment when the Wetherlys’ television reception was interrupted and their living room suffused with a bright orange glow.

Meanwhile, Carol (Jane Alexander) remains as sturdy as she can for the sake of the couple’s daughter and two sons. She cannot be hopeful, since there is nothing to hope for. The best she can do is sit quietly by as the after-effects of the nuclear explosions manifest themselves, images that the film sometimes presents very powerfully indeed. When ”Testament” presents a mother burying a tiny corpse that has been wrapped in a child’s gaily printed sheet, it is at its most unsettlingly plausible.

”Testament,” which opens today at the Baronet, is powerfully acted, especially by Miss Alexander. And it undoubtedly strikes a frightening chord. But its emphasis on the ordinary, so effective in the film’s opening scenes, makes the later moments unduly hard to believe. One subsequent event that we see, for instance, is a grade-school enactment of ”The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” which the children are performing. The play has plenty of relevance to what has happened, since it ends with the thought that the town’s children have disappeared until the time comes when the townspeople really deserve them. But in the event of a nuclear holocaust, wouldn’t the people of Hamelin, Calif., cancel a performance of the school play?

The short story upon which the film is based (”The Last Testament,” by Carol Amen) hasn’t room for many such details, but John Sacret Young’s screenplay develops quite a number of them. The garbage, for instance, is no longer collected. Famine sets in, and there are long, long lines for gasoline. This is all plausible, but what’s missing is a corresponding attention to larger issues. The screenplay never specifies which country pressed the button, for instance, or what events in world politics led up to this terrible turn of events. Nor do the people of Hamelin have much of an opportunity to voice grief, panic, rage or any other of the emotions they might be expected to have. For the most part, they just persevere quietly and wait for the worst.

Miss Littman, who directed and was co-producer of ”Testament,” gives its individual scenes a very realistic air, even if the film’s overall conception is sometimes strained. The casting is particularly adroit, since Miss Alexander and Mr. Devane are convincing as both longtime spouses and suburbanites and since the down-to-earth qualities of both stars contribute to the homespun feeling of the drama. Also in the cast are Philip Anglim and Rebecca de Mornay in small but effective roles, and Ross Harris, Roxana Zal and Lukas Haas, who perform touchingly as the doomed children.

Only when ”Testament” refers to things Miss Littman could not illustrate – that 1,300 people in the town have died, for instance, when we’ve seen only a few dozen on screen – are the limitations of the film’s very small budget made apparent. For the most part, it’s a simple and resourceful film and one that has been made with unmistakable conviction.

”Testament” is rated PG (”Parental Guidance Suggested”). Its subject matter might easily frighten small children.

The Play Goes On TESTAMENT, directed by Lynne Littman; screenplay by John Sacret Young, based on the story ”The Last Testament” by Carol Amen; director of photography, Steven Poster; edited by Suzanne Pettit; produced by Johathan Bernstein and Miss Littman; released by Paramount Pictures. At the Baronet, Third Avenue and 59th Street. Running time: 90 minutes. This film is rated PG. Carol WetherlyJane Alexander Tom WetherlyWilliam Devane Brad WetherlyRoss Harris Mary Liz WetherlyRoxana Zal Scottie WetherlyLukas Haas HollisPhilip Anglim FaniaLilia Skala Henry AbhartLeon Ames Rosemary AbhartLurene Tuttle Cathy PitkinRebecca De Mornay Phil PitkinKevin Costner MikeMako LarryMico Olmos HiroshiGerry Murillo BilldockerJ. Brennan Smit

Yunnes

Thoughts & Connection to the real life

I think the great thing about this movie is that it does illustrate the life under terror attack in real life. Unlike other big-budget hollywood cast movies, it somehow convey the idea of how ordinary the life can be changed if the Sovient Union really attacks the states. After watching this film, you learn how to appreciate the little things in life. You feel great even just to have some fresh vegetables or electricity in every day life. It is a movie which will make you think deeply for a while.

It is also something which might  happen in real life. This movie just simply illustraes the true reaction of our human beings.

Yunnes

Background of the movie

Directed by	Lynne Littman
Produced by	Jonathan Bernstein
Written by	Carol Amen (story) John Sacret Young
Starring	Jane Alexander William Devane Ross Harris Roxana Zal Lukas Haas Leon Ames Mako
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	Steven Poster
Editing by	Suzanne Pettit
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 9, 1983
Running time	90 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English

Pilot summary:

The Wetherly family — husband Tom (William Devane), wife Carol (Jane Alexander), and children Brad (Ross Harris), Mary Liz (Roxana Zal), and Scottie (Lukas Haas) — live in the fictional suburb of Hamlin, California, within a 90-minute drive of San Francisco, where Tom works.

On a routine afternoon, Carol, who is a stay-at-home mom and volunteer for school functions (such as directing the school play), listens to an answering-machine message from Tom saying he’s on his way home for dinner. Scottie is watching Sesame Street on TV when the show is suddenly replaced by white noise. Suddenly a news anchor comes on to announce the cause:

“This is San Francisco. We have lost our New York signal. Radar sources confirm the explosion of nuclear devices, there, in New York, and up and down the East Coast. Ladies and gentlemen, this is real. This is …”

The anchorman is cut off by the Emergency Broadcast System tone. An announcer states that the White House is interrupting the program and asks people to stay off their phones. At the introduction of the President of the United States (who is never seen), the phone rings but goes dead just as Carol answers it. The flash of a nuclear detonation is then seen through the window.

The family huddles on the floor as the town’s air-raid sirens go off. Minutes later, several of their neighbors are running around in a panic. They hope Tom will return, but his absence and the reason behind it are hard to ignore.

Hamlin survives unscathed because apparently the town is far enough from San Francisco to avoid blast damage. The attack is never explained.

Frightened residents meet at the home of Henry Abhart (Leon Ames). An elderly ham radio operator, Henry made contact with survivors in rural areas and internationally. He tells Carol that he was unable to reach anyone east of Keokuk, Iowa. A radio report told of an errant bomb hitting Yosemite National Park, causing trees and rocks to fall from the sky like rain. He also revealed that the entire Bay Area and most major U.S. cities were “radio silent.” The morning after the attack, they are joined by a child named Larry (Mico Olmos), who is soon part of the family, but later dies from radiation poisoning.

Despite Abhart’s efforts, no one knows the reason for the attack nor the responsible parties. Rumors from other radio operators in South America and Canada range from a Soviet preemptive strike to terrorism.

The school play, about the Pied Piper, was in rehearsal before the bombings. Desperate to recapture some normalcy the town decides to go on with the show. Earlier, life was normal. The parents smile and clap, but their smiles are forced.

Hamlin escaped bomb damage, but not the significant radiation from fallout. The day after the attack, the children notice “sand” on their breakfast plates.

Residents have to deal with losing municipal services, food and gas shortages and ultimately the loss of loved ones to radiation sickness. Scottie is the first to succumb. He is buried in the back yard. Carol screams at a Catholic priest (Philip Anglim) that she will not bury Scottie without his favorite, missing teddy bear. Wooded caskets need to be used for funeral pyres as the dead accumulate faster than they can be buried. Carol sews bed sheets together, making burial shroud for her daughter, Mary Liz, who also dies from radiation exposure. While many of the children die, older residents seem to fall to rapid dementia. One young couple, played by (Kevin Costner and Rebecca De Mornay), leave town after losing their infant, in hopes of finding safety elsewhere.

Carol’s search for battery causes her to listen once more to her husband’s final message on the answering machine. To her sorrow, she finds a later (and previously unheard) message on the machine from Tom. He had decided to stay at work late in San Francisco on the day of the attack, and she must give up her last hope that he will someday make it home.

Brad is forced into early adulthood helping his mother and taking over the radio for Henry Abhart, who also dies. A bully who tormented Brad is caught breaking into their home, Brad tries to fight him off, but Carol eventually scares him away. He manages to steal Brad’s bicycle, but Brad starts using his father’s bike and symbolically becomes the man of the house. The family adopts a mentally handicapped boy named Hiroshi (Gerry Murillo) when his father, Mike (Mako Iwamatsu), dies. Tom used to take Hiroshi fishing along with the other Wetherly kids.

One night, Carol is out when she sees a pile of bodies being burned. She stops, stares at the fire for a minute, and then breaks down and cries.

Carol, Brad and Hiroshi attempt suicide by sitting in the family’s station wagon with the garage door closed (carbon monoxide poisoning), but Carol cannot bring herself to do it. The three end up sitting by candlelight to celebrate a birthday, using a graham cracker in place of a cake. When asked what they should wish for, Carol answers: “That we remember it all … the good and the awful.” She blows out the candle. There are visions of an old silent film of a surprise birthday party for Tom, showing him as he blows out the candles on his cake.

Reference from wikipedia