Park City Dispatch. 2.

The Unforeseen is a mostly terrific, beautifully shot documentary that uses a microcosmic story of development in Austin, Texas, to tell another of a more cosmic environmental struggle affecting us all. The film splits focus between an ongoing battle between environmentalists and developers over Barton Springs, a longtime favorite site of sunbathers and swimmers, as well as a place where some even find religion (Baptists long used it as a spot for baptisms, while another woman interviewed in the film talked about the spiritual nature of being at the spot itself); and the way development encroaches on rapidly shrinking farmland in the area, focusing on one old-time corn farmer who sees the open space and agriculture around him disappearing.

While the film's leanings undeniably lean in favor of the environment, director Laura Dunn (in her first "big" documentary) does a reasonable job of at least trying to find balance in the debate by interviewing developers, conservatives and a young couple who eagerly move to the edge city for the lower housing costs. But the crux of the film is Austin and the battle to protect its few remaining natural, open spaces. One of the central characters is real estate developer Gary Bradley, a native Texan who struck it rich and had designs on developing Barton Springs. His own career crash ruined his life but ultimately didn't ruin the transformation of that once sacred area.

The film is full of lyrical imagery - of bodies swimming underwater, birds, turtles, the shifting landscape - as well as a plethora of overhead shots depicting Austin and the surrounding area from various perspectives and distances (I think this doc has more helicopter tracking shots than any I can recall, perhaps a few too many). Dunn cleverly interweaves stock footage of protest rallies - from both the left and the right, railing one way or another over development legislation - as well as a compelling all-night Austin city council session in which the people convinced the politicians to protect Barton Springs; and some compelling interview subjects, including Rolling Stone's fine political writer William Greider and the late former Texas Governor Ann Richards. Snippets of an essay ("The Unforeseen Wilderness") read by its author, poet Wendell Berry add another layer to the film.

Dunn's had some help here; namely, from Robert Redford, who exec produced and is interviewed in the film, which could cause one to cry conflict of interest given its appearance in Redford's festival - but this can easily be forgiven, as it's a film that should be seen. She also had some help from long-time Austin resident Terrence Malick, who essentially hired her to tell the story he'd been itching to tell but didn't have the time or patience for the years it would take to make the film (the engaging Dunn told the audience after the screening that it took her four years, though she blamed some of the delay on getting married and having a baby during the project). Malick's hand seems perceptible in the aforementioned natural world imagery, and he shares with Dunn an affection for Austin that adds emotional weight to the film.

If The Unforeseen has a fault, it would be a slight lack of focus, with the two stories side by side, with the twain not always quite meeting, and it could have used a more decisive editing hand in a few places. An attempt at making an analogy between the way human blood cells form and mutate and (sub)urban sprawl, didn't work for me, for example.  But just as often, the film drives its point home: that our development-oriented society has to reconsider the meaning of development and its relationship - and the value of - the land around us.

A flawed, but beautiful documentary.

Posted by dwhudson at January 20, 2007 6:14 AM