I know that they were waiting for the father and that it was their home.
But I'm sure people in US, 1983, were well informed about the effects of radiation and that it would make sense to leave as soon as possible. And when people are dying around them that would be obvious. They even had radio contact with several places. I'm sure they could have a much better spot for surviving. In my opinion the mother kills her children by staying there.
There was mention of survival camps in Canada. Some people were trying to head there I think.
Abandoning the familiar comforts of home without a geiger counter would probably be too dangerous. How would people know they weren't wandering into an area that's even more contaminated than the place they left? If the car broke down they could be stranded in the middle of nowhere without help. Then there is the danger of marauders who might kill them for their provisions.
Although there was radio contact with other communities, some with blast damage, those communiities fell silent one by one as they succumbed to radiation. No one would know which areas of the country were safe. If any.
Well, perhaps you are right, but it kind of ruined the film for me. I felt it frustrating that they didn't even try to leave and find a better place. I have to admit that I actually used the fast forward button quite substantially (also because I realised after a while that I'd seen the movie before).
shareI agree completely. They could not have gotten far and had no idea if they were heading into worse contamination. They could not have carried much with them, and would be strangers wherever they wound up. as shown in the breakfast scene, all the plates were "dirty": the contamination was already in them and the clock was ticking. I think the mother made the right decision to keep the children in their own home with people who knew and cared about them and for the most part would try to help rather than hurt each other, for whatever time they had left.
You wouldn't get very far on a tank of gas. Then what would you do when you ran out? It's not like all the gas stations leading to Canada are going to be open and selling gas.
shareI think that as time went by, gas was impossible or nearly impossible to obtain. And crime rates would conceivably rise, because desperate people do desperate things. Staying home was probably a smart thing in the long run, because most likely, there would never be a safe place anywhere in the country, or even the world, for that matter. Such a sad movie..but it makes you think!
shareNot to mention, even if you knew of a good place to go, you were probably already so saturated with radiation that it was only a matter of time b4 you died.
Don't know about anyone else, but I would rather die in my own home in that situation.
If they could see the light from the blast, then they were close enough to get substantial fallout and radiation poisoning. They were dead from that point on. I don't think it would have mattered what they did.
I think you need electricity for the gas pumps to work. The 'escapees' would have to pump the gas but how could they without electricity? ..and what did they expect to find when they got there? Dead bodies, that's what.
It was the end of the world. Watch On the Beach if you want to see what a nuclear holocaust is all about. They all die in the end, because blasts have been going on all over the world. Some poor slob pushed the wrong button and others around the world followed suit. Result? The end of civilization.
That's what Testament is all about.
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything!"....
WHERE would they go and more importantly HOW would they get there. These people were basically stranded there
The whole USA has been wiped out by a nuclear war. Even if there was some safe area that was not touched by the bombs HOW would they get there safely? You have to consider how much far you car can go on what gas is left and WHERE/IF you might find gas along the way and HOW. Even if they do run by a gas station that was not destroyed I doubt the pumps would be working
These people also didn't know really what parts were bombed and how much radiation fallout there was in different parts of the country not to mention roving looters and murders trying to survive. They were much safer staying put in that small untouched town the getting stuck somewhere else that is unmentionable.
Its not to say that it would have been a bad idea if they had planned out a route and where to get gas and a SAFE place to go but that was a lot easier said then done. Assuming that these people left and made it to another pocketed area is that community going to be any better of with shortage of food, supplies running low and the fallout coming over?
As I recall some people in the film DID actually leave....but where they went if they ever made it remains to be seen
Watch tv series "Jericho"- why did they not leave?
Because of crimes on the roads, radiation and other stuff!
It's also pointed out in 'Jericho' that countries like Mexico and Canada would probably shut their borders. They'd have some problems with fallout themselves and would be more concerned with seeing to their own citizens without the burden of seeing to American refugees.
What did interest me in this film was, where was the US allies? If something like this happens, I like to think other countries, especially in Europe, would at the very least drop supplies of food and medical aid before sending troops in to offer assistance. But I suppose that could be discounted by the fact allied help would be aimed at major cities rather than small towns.
"I always pretend to root for Gryffindors but, secretly, I love my Slytherin boys."~ Karen, W&G
Not necessarily. Given that any major city that would have been targeted would likely have no survivors and would also probably be an unsafe or deadly place to travel toward, one wonders what good a food- or aid-drop would do there.
shareI think the idea is that in a nuclear war, the entire world would be drawn into it simply by the shear force of it.
Therefore aid from other countries would not even be suggested since they too would be suffering the effects of fallout.
As for leaving, I doubt the mother wanted to chance taking her children out into the unknown with the possibility they would be robbed and murdered or stray right into a much more deadly zone. Let's not forget that on the first night, the old man told the group that Yosemite park had been bombed, probably by mistake. That would tend to make someone wonder how many mistakes there actually were and whether I could possibly enter one of those areas with my children. Nope. Staying home where I am aware of my surroundings and neighbors is the best thing to do.
I still don't understand why everybody was just dying one by one.
They didné show any signs of radiation poisoning, they just died for no reason.
In the 80's, the assumed progression of an all-out nuclear war included most of the NATO countries, so bye-bye European Allies. I don't think you'd be seeing many food drops from them.
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
Fact is they were dead as soon as the radiation blast pentrated the house and they were hit by the "light of a thousand suns". Of course the youngest, weakest and oldest would go first and the strong would go last, but death was inevitable. It's amazing they lasted as long as they did, and yes, it was foolish of them to stay as soon as the bodies started dropping. They might have been able to extend their lives by a few years by finding a less contaminated area.
Dave
To answer your question, they didn't leave because this film isn't Rambo or some comic book where people can do whatever they want just because they want to. If this happened to you in the holodeck on Star Trek, you could program it so that you could, even as a woman, beat up all sorts of thugs that stood in your way, carry your children across the border, over thousands of miles, without any strain, and then get to the land of milk and honey, which interestingly enough isn't crowded with other people who are "smart enough" to run away.
Maybe you shouldn't have fast forwarded because then you'd get the idea that this wasn't a slasher flick or one of those films where one man can wipe out an entire army. The storyline here deals with a condition where the only people who "win" are those that die right away. The survivors can do nothing but wait to die. There is no kidding yourself. The radio contact you mention was a futile attempt at connection. Again, watch the movie without fast forwarding and you'll see that they *never* make contact with anyone.
Waiting for the father? What can I say besides what I've already said: don't fast forward and try to think of this movie not as a comic book story. The father is DEAD. He's gone. There is no way that you can possibly even consider for a second that he could have a chance at surviving. When the mom kisses the answering machine, when he gives her the "double scratch" message, it's symbolic of that understanding.
You say that people dying around them should be a sign to hightail it out of there. The people dying around them meant nothing but what I've described above, that survival is a futile thing and that slow, painful death is the only future available to anyone.
It's also pointed out in 'Jericho' that countries like Mexico and Canada would probably shut their borders. They'd have some problems with fallout themselves and would be more concerned with seeing to their own citizens without the burden of seeing to American refugees.
The ham radio guy was making contact with other people. There's one scene midway through the movie when the guy is actually on the radio talking to another ham about what places were hit! Think about it: if they were right next to the blast and they survived that long, what are the chances that there aren't go to be survivors in places all throughout the country?
The idea of a Nuclear War wiping out all human life on Earth is two parts pseudo science, one part political agenda. It has nothing to do with reality. Things would get really bad for many, many people and drastic numbers of them would die. But if you had a well-stocked and defended place in Oregon or one of the countries near the equator you'd have a great chance to get by.
shareI could be wrogn but couldn't just siphon the gas from cars that had gas in them? With a hose maybe? Still not a reason to go to Canada but the issue of gas may not be a problem.
shareOn the subject of Europe helping the U.S,well Europe would be a right off the next 500 years at least with the amount of radiation swarming around there.
Forget the U.K because in a nuclear war it's a dead island,the only places I can think of aid comming from would be what is left of commonwealth countries.
Then again who is going to give aid when you can't feed yourself.
Ahem... This is a great movie, I remember being completely crushed when I saw it as a kid. Now the idea that an EMP was used is unlikely seeing that cars (post 1973 models) seemed to function fine and that portable stereos still worked. The idea of escape was supposed to be in the viewer, and personified in Kevin Costner's character who planned to find a survival camp 'up north' somewhere. It's easy to think that one can run away from something and make a fine film, but what we see in Testament is an even greater struggle. The people try to live as normal lives as they can, they share food, have town meetings, etc. One scene that sticks in m mind is when there is what looks like a garage sale (though its just organizing the remaining supplies) and the Bad Kid steals some batteries, the eldest son tells him "put them back" and he does (at least a few) I mean does anyone know the exact effects of radiation poisoning? Some will live for months until they get sick and die, but they will die. The dream of escape is just that, something for the audience to turn over in their minds endlessly, thus hightening the emotion when it becomes clear that it is just that, a dream. Watch No Blades of Grass if you want a semi-realistic running away movie, its not a nuclear war, but has alot of similarities though is very English.
shareAs I said in an earlier post..Watch On The Beach..they (the Australians) had no place to go..they were the last place on earth that still survived after a world-wide nuclear attack..but they knew their days were numbered...
The nuclear cloud was coming their way..it was just a matter of time. No where to go, no one to go to. So they waited. Pills were issued to everyone to take at the very end to ease the pain of the radiation when it got bad..taken with a nice cup of tea, you go to sleep and don't wake up.
In Testament, the mother (Alexander) keeps her family together, knowing her husband was dead in San Francisco..and one by one, the children die. She, the older boy and Yoshi, the little Japanese boy who's father was Mike, the gas station owner are the only ones left in their household..she thinks of doing away with them in the family car by carbon monoxide..but changes her mind and they all go back in the house to await the inevitable.
No one can be reached by radio anymore, telling them that everyone was dead and they were next. A wonderfully done film about a horrible subject.
A sad 'testament' to the nuclear race.
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything!"....
With no way to detect or measure radiation, she could just as easily end up in a place with more radiation. Then they would be outside(in the fallout) and not have any of the resources they had at home.
share[deleted]
The answer to your question is in the movie The Road.
Also, there is too much talk of gas... are people really that ignorant about EMP? You can have all the gas you want but, your cars are not going to work.
Get a tent and a REALLY good pair of shoes cuz, if you want to go anywhere, you WILL be walking.
Read One Minute After.