XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

cougarannie A gripping story about a doomed suburban California Community struggling in the aftermath of a Nuclear Attack. "Horror" is suggested rather than gruesomely portrayed (ie, by withering trees planted earlier to celebrate births in a family, by blood seeping through a towel wrapping a freshly-bathed child.) The acting is superb, the dialogue realistic, the characters well drawn. My only complains with this production revolve around a few minor details.Has "Carol Wetherly"'s teenage Daughter committed suicide? She showed no signs of being obviously ill, but showed plenty of despair and depression in the scenes leading up to the one where her mother stoically sews her into a shroud. When electricity fails, water pumps don;t work, taps don't run and toilets don't flush. Yet residents of "Hamlin" have no trouble getting water or disposing of their sewage.Most problematic of all are the reactions of the Children. Unlike Adults, children don't know how to ignore "The Elephant In The Living Room". They examine it from every angle and ask pointed questions: "Why can't we get more bananas?" "Why can't we go live with Grandpa and Grandma?" "How did Nancy get sick?" None the less, if this Movie makes you stop and wonder how you'd survive without ever again having access to your Supermarket, Microwave or Internet Connection, it's done it's job.

JRmf I would have to disagree with those who find this movie far more realistic than The Day After in its depiction of the consequences of nuclear war. Testament looks at such a situation at a more deeply personal level than TDA - the emotional horrors it explores are noteworthy. In Testament, nuclear war suddenly breaks out with no warning. I get the impression that this is a family used to watching TV, so there should have been some indication, some lead-up a la Cuban Missle Crisis. While they watch the warning, apparently for the first time, the house is enveloped in a nuclear flash (unlikely timing). Surely there would have been some fires or at least wilted vegetation from this? Everything outside looked quite normal.Clearly Testament was designed with a very different slant to TDA - who wants to watch a remake - but in doing so it over-softens and underemphasises the horror of such. Fortunately the world has not experienced such an event, so we are left with the results of computer simulations. Something like http://tinyurl.com/43mkwyy probably gives a realistic idea though.Darkened skies and a precipitous drop in temperature almost immediately are probable. The way Hamlin is portrayed might be possible in the first few weeks in the southern hemisphere, say Australia, but not in the US. The radiation which kills off the people comes through the vector of dust, and lots of it - "fallout" - but there is no sign of it in Hamlin. Everything looks quite normal. A crisis situation of this nature brings out the best and worst in people - the Hamlin "riots" are mild and transitory. You'd be unlucky to get a window broken. TDA has the missiles and high-tech, a gradual and realistic build-up to the event as well as the aftermath, the almost complete breakdown of civil society in horrific relief, compared to Testament's orderly, if very sad, demise.

ferrierdf I saw this film in 1983 soon after it came out. The film affected me greatly. (A child of the Cold War era, I had stuffed canned goods into a knapsack during the week of the Cuban Missile Crisis.) After viewing the film, I immediately arranged to borrow a 16mm copy from the local library and to rent a projector to show it. I contacted neighbourhood parents to ask if any of their children would like come and watch the film. Then, one evening, I went to the library, got the film, picked up the projector, collected the children, threaded the projector, and showed the film. I did this because I felt that if only one child was moved by seeing the film to try to prevent the catastrophe it portrayed, it was worth the effort.

Joseph P. Ulibas Testament (1983) was one of the few films that came out during the 80's that dealt with the Nuclear War scenario seriously. Jane Alexander stars as the matriarch of your typical middle class family. One day when the father (Bill Devane) is on a business trip, life as we know it was ended when the missiles were launched. Who or what caused this holocaust was never explained. But the only that thing that matters now is survival and trying to keep the family together. What tragic world lies ahead for the family now that life as they knew it was changed forever?A real heartbreaking film that shows the side of the human condition that we all have deep within us. There's no big budgeted effects or over the top acting in this film. Just raw emotion, great acting and a real good script and direction that fuels this drama. I strongly recommend this movie for all the reasons I have stated.