Testament (1983)

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Taking a hauntingly intimate approach to an often sensationalized subject, the singular Testament depicts one family’s daily life in the wake of nuclear devastation. After an atomic attack near her small California town, Carol Wetherly (Jane Alexander, in a fearlessly vulnerable, Oscar-nominated performance) must find the strength to care for her three children as the family contend with radiation sickness and the realization that their close-knit community will never be the same. With a diaristic focus on the emotional toll of unimaginable events, director Lynne Littman puts forth a wrenchingly humane vision of what it means to go on living in a shattered world.