Testament (film)
Encyclopedia
Testament is a drama film
directed by Lynne Littman
and starring Jane Alexander
.
The film tells the story of how one small suburban town near the San Francisco Bay Area
slowly falls apart after a nuclear war
destroys outside civilization.
Originally produced for the PBS
series American Playhouse
, it was given a theatrical release instead (although PBS did subsequently air it a year later).
The cast includes William Devane
, Leon Ames
, Lukas Haas
, Roxana Zal
and, in small roles shortly before a rise in their stardom, Kevin Costner
and Rebecca DeMornay.
Based on The Last Testament by Carol Amen, the film script was by John Sacret Young
, who would later create the television series China Beach
. Alexander was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress
for her performance.
), 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.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Lynne Littman
Lynne Littman
Lynne Littman is an American director. She has frequently worked with anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff. She directed Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years.-Awards:...
and starring Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
.
The film tells the story of how one small suburban town near the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
slowly falls apart after a nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
destroys outside civilization.
Originally produced for the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
series American Playhouse
American Playhouse
American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.It premiered on January 12, 1982 with The Shady Hill Kidnapping, written and narrated by John Cheever and directed by Paul Bogart...
, it was given a theatrical release instead (although PBS did subsequently air it a year later).
The cast includes William Devane
William Devane
William Joseph Devane is an American film, television and theater actor.-Life and career:Devane was born in Albany, New York in 1937 or 1939 , the son of Joseph Devane, who was Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York...
, Leon Ames
Leon Ames (actor)
Leon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing fatherly figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis , as Judy Garland's father, and in Little Women ....
, Lukas Haas
Lukas Haas
Lukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
, Roxana Zal
Roxana Zal
Roxana Zal is an American actress.Zal was born and raised in Malibu, California, the daughter of Maureen and Hossein Zal, a Los Angeles investor. She was on her High School tennis team. Her first acting role was a guest spot on Hart to Hart at age 12. She has had several other guest roles since...
and, in small roles shortly before a rise in their stardom, Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
and Rebecca DeMornay.
Based on The Last Testament by Carol Amen, the film script was by John Sacret Young
John Sacret Young
John Sacret Young is an author, producer, director, and screenwriter primarily in television. Young has been nominated for seven Emmys and seven Writers Guild of America Awards, winning two WGA Awards....
, who would later create the television series China Beach
China Beach
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" by unknown foreigners, most likely Americans...
. Alexander was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for her performance.
Plot summary
The Wetherly family — husband Tom (William DevaneWilliam Devane
William Joseph Devane is an American film, television and theater actor.-Life and career:Devane was born in Albany, New York in 1937 or 1939 , the son of Joseph Devane, who was Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York...
), wife Carol (Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander is an American actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Although perhaps best known for playing the female lead in The Great White Hope on both stage and screen, Alexander has played a wide array of roles in both theater and film and has committed...
), and children Brad (Ross Harris), Mary Liz (Roxana Zal
Roxana Zal
Roxana Zal is an American actress.Zal was born and raised in Malibu, California, the daughter of Maureen and Hossein Zal, a Los Angeles investor. She was on her High School tennis team. Her first acting role was a guest spot on Hart to Hart at age 12. She has had several other guest roles since...
), and Scottie (Lukas Haas
Lukas Haas
Lukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
) — live in the fictional suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
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
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
on TV when the show is suddenly replaced by white noise
Noise (video)
Noise, in analog video and television, is a random dot pattern of static displayed when no transmission signal is obtained by the antenna receiver of television set and other display devices...
. 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
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
, 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
Emergency Broadcast System
The Emergency Broadcast System was an emergency warning system in the United States, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System.-Purpose:...
tone. An announcer states that the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
is interrupting the program and asks people to stay off their phones. At the introduction of the President of the United States
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
(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
Leon Ames (actor)
Leon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing fatherly figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis , as Judy Garland's father, and in Little Women ....
). 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
Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...
. A radio report told of an errant bomb hitting Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
, 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
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
range from a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
preemptive strike
Preemptive war
A preemptive war is a war that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived inevitable offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending war before that threat materializes. It is a war which preemptively 'breaks the peace'. The term: 'preemptive war' is...
to terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
.
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
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
from fallout
Nuclear fallout
Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...
. 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
Philip Anglim
Philip Charles Anglim is an American actor best known for his performance as Joseph Merrick in the stage and television versions of The Elephant Man, a role for which he received a Best Actor nomination in the 1979 Tony Awards...
) that she will not bury Scottie without his favorite, missing teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
. 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
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
. One young couple, played by (Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
and Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise...
), 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
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
. 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
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by sitting in the family's station wagon with the garage door closed (carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...
), 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.
See also
- The Day AfterThe Day AfterThe Day After is a 1983 American television movie which aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network. It was seen by more than 100 million people during its initial broadcast....
1983 television movie. - List of nuclear holocaust fiction
- List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction