# I just watched Testament

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 29, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139 "2008-03-29T03:53:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/1 "2008-03-29T03:53:53Z")

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I just got done watching [Testament](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086429/) on dvd. Wow, this was good. Very dated, but the story is still powerful. I liked how stoic the mother was sewing shrouds for her children and attempting suicide (w/ her equally stoic son). I didn’t even notice Kevin Costner was in until after read the Imdb page. When the mother was watching the funeral pyre was that the _priest_ she started making out with? :eek:

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/2 "2008-03-29T04:13:23Z")

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[QUOTE=alphaboi867]  
When the mother was watching the funeral pyre was that the _priest_ she started making out with? :eek:  
[/QUOTE]  
That’s my recollection.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/3 "2008-03-29T06:57:18Z")

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It was the priest. Hey, any port in a holocaust.

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**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/4 "2008-03-29T13:41:55Z")

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I remember watching this movie on cable back in the day. When she’s sewing the shrouds that always killed me. I pretty much cried every time I saw it, even though I knew what was going to happen. Very gripping.

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**Author:** ![Purple\_Scottie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Purple\_Scottie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purple_Scottie)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/5 "2008-03-29T15:38:10Z")

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I bought this on VHS on ebay after having watched the BBC’s Threads and “The Day After” (which I think was on NBC around the early eighties). I like how it didn’t include as much of the “whys” the nuclear attack happened (the other two movies show the build-up of tensions leading to the attacks) but more on the day to day life. The bit about the Pied Piper of Hamlin was a bit much (the children’s play) but overall I thought it was well-done.

Not sure whether to spoiler the below comments since the movie has been around since the early 80’s but in case some one hasn’t seen it yet:

One of the scenes that really gets to me (it has been a bit since I’ve seen it so I may be not remembering it exactly right) was when the middle child (daughter) was asking her mom about what it was like to have been in love with her father and then just says something to the effect that she’ll never know anything like that. Also, the mother taking the batteries out of the answering machine after listing to her husband’s message one last time.

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/6 "2008-03-29T18:56:02Z")

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I’ve probably seen this film ten times. Gets me every time. Beautifully done, far more powerful and believable than the other two major nuclear holocaust films already mentioned, which I found sort of shallow and sensationalistic compared to this one.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-watched-testament/443139/7 "2008-03-31T03:22:19Z")

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The only film my wife ever got so upset at, that she simply said “I can’t watch this anymore” and walked out.
