Just Watched Testament

A few weeks back I tweaked my Netflix queue to move all the post-apocalyptic stuff to the top of the list.  Last week I watched Delicatessen, which I really liked, and tonight I finally got around to watching Testament.

The basic plot of the movie follows one family in a small California town after a nuclear war of some sort silences most of the rest of the country.  I've never lived in a small town, but the situation didn't strike me as very realistic.   There was very little organization, and no one seemed to run low on food.  And when people started dying of radiation sickness, those who were still alive seemed to be in fine health; I would have expected everyone to show symptoms to some degree.  It really seemed kind of random who got sick, and the kid who was out in the open every day riding his bike around town never ended up sick at all.

Now that I've seen it, I'm fairly surprised that it's rated as high as it is on Netflix and IMDB.  I suppose the events of the film may be shocking or moving to those who haven't considered what would happen in the event of a nuclear war, but I could have imagined scenarios that would have tugged the heart-strings a lot more.

Overall, even though it's definitely post-apocalyptic, I can't say that I'd recommend it.  If you're looking for realistic near-term post-nuclear war survival, stick with The Day After, or even better, Threads (look for it on the torrents).

Next up in the queue is kind of a strange one I think, Hell Comes to Frogtown.