TESTAMENT (1983)
Label: Imprint Films (#170)
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 89 Minutes 39 Seconds
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English subtitles
Director: Lynne Littman
Cast: Jane Alexander, William Devane, Roxana Zal, Lukas Haas, Rebecca De Mornay, Kevin Costner, Ross Harris, Philip Anglim, Lilia Skala, Leon Ames, Lurene Tuttle
The early 80's Cold War-era nuclear holocaust film Testament (1983) focuses on the Wetherly family; loving husband Tom (William Devane, Rolling Thunder), caring wife Carol (Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer), and their children teenager Brad (Ross Harris, Airplane!), and younger siblings Mary Liz (Roxana Zal, River's Edge), and Scottie (Lukas Haas, Ghost Story), who live in the quiet California suburb of Hamelin outside of San Francisco. They're a tight-knit family and the film's first half sets that up quite nicely with moments between them that make their bond readily apparent. It's on a day like any other that Tom is away on a business trip when their lives are interrupted by a TV broadcast out of San Francisco announcing that nuclear devices have exploded up and down the Eastern seaboard, just before the TV turns to an emergency broadcast signal, cut short by a blinding flash of light of a nuclear explosion in the distance seen through the living room window, the family duck and covering together as air raid sirens go off. In the aftermath there's no electricity or phone service, the community is shut off from the outside world.
It's an interesting nuclear holocaust film that doesn't offer the usual, more visible, destructive force of the nuclear attack, and while the community of Hamelin seems to have initially escaped an largely unscathed by the brunt of the ICMB attack the film focuses on their struggles to maintain normalcy in the aftermath of nuclear fallout. Interestingly, the film also does not place blame - we do not know where the attack came from, or who initiated the presumed nuclear exchange.
Director Lynne Littman’s gripping and deeply moving film, based on the 3-page short story "The Last Testament" by Carol Amen, keeps it's focus on the Wetherly family, particularly matriarch Carol (Alexander), as she keeps a journal which we are privy to through narration, as she documents their life post-nuke life. The journal entries are deeply upsetting and paint a dour portrait of a mother who bares witness to the decline of her community and the effects of the nuclear catastrophe on her family as they struggle to survive this nightmarish new reality. There's some occasional looting evidenced but it's low-grade and not the focus, for the most part the community remains optimistic and attempt to maintain normalcy for the sake of the kids, even keeping the school play production of Pied Piper of Hamelin going. We also spend time with an elderly ham radio operator (Leon Ames, The Absent-Minded Professor) who attempts to keep in touch with the outside world as best he can, and a young couple with a doomed newborn played by a young Rebecca De Mornay (a pre-Risky Business) and Kevin Costner (The Untouchables).
As the community falls victims to nuclear fallout and the invisible threat radiation sickness sets in the film doesn't focus on the more horrific elements, we are told that over a thousand people in the community have died from radiation sickness but we only see a handful of corpses and a mass funeral pyre at the cemetery. it's quite a tenderly directed film with a maternal eye, which makes it probably more impactful that any scenes of mushroom cloud and charred remains ever could have. I have not seen this film for the better part of 40 years, watching it now as an adult, particaurly as father, it's given even more weight and resonance. When I was a kid it was a nuclear-nightmare, which was a very real concern for me at that age, but as a father this is a whole new level of "what if?" despair, watching this mother bare witness to the decline of her community and children, her hopes and dreams for their futures dwindling as the community withers and dies.
Audio/Video: Testament (1983) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Imprint Films framed in 1.78:1 widescreen, the transfer prepared by Paramount Pictures. It's an organic and handsome looking transfer with a natural looking filmic presentation; textures and fine detail are pleasing and the colors are warm. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English LPCM 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clear and crisp, there are no issues with distortion, and the effecting score by late composer James Horner (Something Wicked This Way Comes) sounds fantastic.
Imprint carry-over archival extras by way of the Lynne Littman directed Testament at 20 – featurette, which runs about 27 minutes and features a reunion of the child actors Ross Harris, Roxana Zal and Lukas Haas who recount making the film, plus we get the 13-minTestament: Nuclear Thoughts featurette, the 3-min Timeline of the Nuclear Age, and a 1-min Theatrical Trailer.
New stuff comes by way of a pair of commentaries, first-up is an Audio commentary by TV Movie expert Amanda Reyes, which is appropriate as the film was originally produced for the PBS series American Playhouse. The second track is an Audio commentary by David J Moore author of World Gone Wild: A Survivors Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Movies. Both tracks are well-researched and informed, I learned quite a bit about the director, the production, the cast and crew, and other Cold War era post-nuke flicks I never knew before, and it gave me a deeper appreciation for the film, which is cool.
The single-disc release comes in an oversized clear keepcase with a two-sided but non-reversible sleeve of artwork that looks like a new design. The limited edition slipcover that accompanies it features the original black and white movie poster.
Special Features:
- 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
- NEW! Audio commentary by TV Movie expert Amanda Reyes
- NEW! Audio commentary by David J Moore author of World Gone Wild: A Survivors Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Movies
- Testament at 20 – featurette (27 min)
- Testament: Nuclear Thoughts – featurette (13 min)
- Timeline of the Nuclear Age (3 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (1 min)
- Limited Edition slipcase on the first 1500 copies with unique artwork
Testament (1983) is a harrowing and deeply affecting watch, like the best of the Cold War era nuclear holocaust films it's a gut-punch, and I would rank this gem it right up there with the best of the post-nuke tragedy films like Threads, The Day After and When the Wind Blows.