An Enjoyable Survivalist Comedy Film

This film was released in early 2009. This is a copywritten image and belongs to the company which produced the film. It is shown here as an endorsement of the film, as advertising for it, and therefore can be considered fair use of such.

        I had an unusual sick day today in which I spent most of the day in bed.  Being a person who likes to have a lot to do, I resorted to watching some videos in order to pass the time.
        The first one was "This is Not a Test".   This was a comedic treatment of a situation which is all too common to many families and marriages in which one partner prepares and another resists.  An intelligent man Carl, who lives in a nice area of Los Angeles becomes interested in survivalism, particularly as it relates to a potential nuclear war and resultant EMP.   Carl's wife Viv, is an upwardly mobile woman in Los Angeles City government who is invested and committed in the world, exactly as it is.  She and her friends think Carl's interest in survivalism is pathologic, and she sends him to a therapist.  Carl has more money than most of us, and in short order, he builds an emergency lead lined bunker in his basement and stocks food and a geiger counter. He not only buys a gun he registers and trains with, but a safe and gold coins to put in it also.  Not long after, Carl's safe, his coins, and his gun, are stolen by the men who delivered it, who leave Carl and his wife bound and gagged in their home.
          The film is an independent one written and directed by Chris Angel.  Tom Arnold is a principle character, plays himself and is an executive producer.. The film received multiple awards such as The Breckenridge Film Festival, The Boston International Film Festival, and the Urbanworld Film Festival.
           Interestingly, the principle actress, Robinne Lee has an undergradate degree from Yale and a  law degree from  Columbia University.  The principle actor Hill Harper, also has a law degree from Harvard. He is also a friend of Barack Obama's (although I suppose I will need to forgive him this.)  Both performances are excellent.
         Although it is a tongue-in-cheek handling of preparedness and survivalism, it does describe the challenge of families in which one spouse prepares and another resists. Eventually, this tension actually threatens their marriage, which has been the case with a number of families I know who are serious survivalists.    If you have a chance to rent or buy this film, do so.  It pokes fun at a number of things and really does foster understanding on both sides of the preparedness argument, all while entertaining us.