Another day after

Press, 12 June 1986, Page 18

Another day after

The question of what happens after a nuclear holocaust is tackled again in "Testament,” which will start at the Downtown tomorrow. Jane Alexander and William Devane star in this chronicle of the day after. It all starts when the television goes blank, the radio silent. The cities are gone, and the only thing people have to hold on to is their loved ones. Alexander plays a mother of three who is trying to survive the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Her husband (Devane) is missing in the initial blast that destroys San Francisco, but she and her neighbours in a California suburb struggle to continue to stay alive. “When the director, Lynne Littman, called me about this film, I was already aware of the Ca?bl Amen story upon

which it it based,” says Alexander. “I have been an active supporter of the whole nuclear disarmament ef-

fort. I saw this as a story that must be told. It so graphically explains why we simply cannot allow nuclear weapons to exist. “There are simply no survivors in a nuclear war. We’re kidding ourselves if we think there is any. chance of survival. This story makes that abundantly clear. “These people are not victims of the bomb blast itself. We don’t even see that kind of destruction in the film. This is the invisible aftermath of radiation, and just the whole breakdown of civilisation. “There is no doubt that if this story makes people stop to think, maybe this sort of thing will never be allowed to Alexander says.