Testament

Director Lynne Littman has created an effective, understated portrayal of the cost of a nuclear war in human terms, in a film as far removed from the fake hyperbole of action and disaster movies as the natural world is from cartoons. Set in the small California town of Hamlin, the Wetherly family ...more

Concern about the possibility of nuclear war reached one of its highest levels in the early 1980s, with a Cold War showdown over nuclear forces in Europe and the growing militancy of the worldwide anti-nuclear campaign. With images of nuclear confrontation closer to mass consciousness than at any time since the early 1960s, two films dramatized the scenarios of an apocalyptic world. The made-for-television The Day After was controversial and much-watched; Testament, the much better feature film ...more