Testament

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Testament

PG

1983

1h 29m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

48 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

It is just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks -- many suffer radiation poisoning -- the Wetherly family tries to survive. Led by mom Carol, the clan tries to support each other even as they take in other stranded survivors.

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Critics Consensus

Testament shrugs off budget limitations to tell a powerful story that anchors nuclear paranoia in one family's harrowing ordeal.

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Zachary Barnes

Wall Street Journal

Mar 26, 2026

In other hands, a film of such unadorned fatalism might seem useless, an exercise in emotional sadism. But “Testament” isn’t punishing, exactly. It’s frank, intimate, poetic in its elisions and profoundly haunting in its effect.

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Jake Cole

Slant Magazine

Mar 9, 2026

Originally produced for PBS’s American Playhouse, Lynne Littman’s Testament is one of that program’s standout entries, a vision of nuclear apocalypse whose horrors are felt rather than seen.

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Catharine Rambeau

Detroit Free Press

May 10, 2021

8/10

There's nothing impersonal about this movie. Nothing unbelievable, either, if you believe the human animal has a core of righteousness that can shine like a sun when everything else has been lost.

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Jan 2, 2023

7/10

There is a fantastic intimacy to Testament, one that separates it from its contemporaries. The rural setting and geographical distance from any explosions create an eerily quiet and more insidious apocalypse.

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JoAnn Rhetts

Charlotte Observer

May 10, 2021

Living an unspeakable nightmare from which there's no waking, [Alexander] suggests a resilient admirable core of humanity.

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Nancy Scott

San Francisco Examiner

May 10, 2021

3/4

Although Testament was made on a tiny budget (4750,000), the photography is of high quality and director, Lynne Littman has made excellent use of her limited resources.

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S S

@SShol Aug 27, 2026

Genuinely haunting film. One that leaves you just staring at the screen in solemn shock at the end. Jane Alexander does an absolutely outstanding job in this role, but the whole town is cast well as they grapple with the fallout. A film that will stick with you forever

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Les N

@Vegas628 May 8, 2026

I fell asleep. Twice. On 2 different days.

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Debbie M

@WorldCitizen Apr 7, 2026

It's the SADDEST film I've ever seen, but it's realistic and we need that. I tried to show it to a big burley guy friend and after 30 minutes, he couldn't take it anymore.

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CodyZamboni Z

@CodyZamboni Apr 6, 2025

Minimal, stark, bleak, deeply personal, and profoundly sad, After nuclear attack, movie details how the fallout affects Jane Alexander's family, and community, Very realistic in how the family and neighbors deal with the hopeless situation, Heartfelt performances all around.

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Daniel C. M

@RT91944882 Jan 20, 2025

A downer, powerful quasi-sci-fi drama that features a absolutly immaculate performance by Jane Alexander as a mother that slowly loses all hope amidts a nuclear holocaust; alongside a very bleak and raw atmosphere due to it's just-as amazing direction. One of the few movies that genuinely made me cry more than once while watching.

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Henry C

@RT89049117 Jan 17, 2025

How will each and every one of us behave with the understanding that there are a finite number of days remaining? Oh, and throw in nuclear war and the swift decline of an 80s American suburban setting. Jane Alexander does the heavy lifting, she's good at portraying a woman with her life, family and community succumbing to death. But, it is the cast of child actors who extraordinarily perform their roles with little affectation. Refreshing. The film is not action, not edited for action stars, nor swift in the sequence of actions. The slow demise of civilization comes without a soaring soundtrack and death is now met with vows of vengeance. Watch it. Maybe just so that we can imagine another method of behavior in the face of catatvkysnic catastrophe. How will each and every one of us behave?

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Lynne Littman

Director

Jane Alexander

Carol Wetherly

William Devane

Tom Wetherly

Roxana Zal

Mary Liz Wetherly

Rossie Harris

Brad Wetherly

Lukas Haas

Scottie Wetherly

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Synopsis

It is just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks -- many suffer radiation poisoning -- the Wetherly family tries to survive. Led by mom Carol, the clan tries to support each other even as they take in other stranded survivors.

Director: Lynne Littman
Producer: Jonathan Bernstein, Lynne Littman
Screenwriter: John Sacret Young
Production Co: Paramount Pictures, Entertainment Events, American Playhouse
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 4, 1983, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 13, 2017
Runtime: 1h 29m

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