The Unforeseen (2007)

A documentary about the development around Barton Springs in Austin, Texas, and the environment's unexpected response to human interference.

Director:

Laura Dunn

Writer:

Wendell Berry (poem)

Stars:

Curtis Peterson, Gary Bradley, Willie Nelson

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Curtis Peterson	...	Himself
Gary Bradley	...	Himself
Willie Nelson	...	Himself
Ann Richards	...	Herself
Roy Butler	...	Himself
William Greider	...	Himself
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Bunch	...	Himself
Jim Bob Moffett	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cedar Stevens	...	Herself
Nico Hauwert	...	Himself
Chock Woodruff	...	Himself
Neil Tuttrup	...	Himself
Frank Cooksey	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dick Brown	...	Himself

Storyline

A documentary about the development around Barton Springs in Austin, Texas, and the environment's unexpected response to human interference.

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Plot Keywords:

texas | nature | austin texas | water pollution | urban development | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

To aprovlepto

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,496, 2 March 2008, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Despair, Two Birds Film, The Sundance Institute

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Laura Dunn was 9 months pregnant at the time of her interview with Robert Redford. The interview took place on her due date. She gave birth the next day to a son (to whom the film is dedicated).

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Goofs

A latter animation showing water lines becoming blood vessels has a noticeable shift. It appears a duplicate frame has been accidentally inserted.

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Quotes

Gary Bradley: Nature in your life, very quickly becomes God. A God who gives great abundance at times... and takes everything away at times.
[on growing up on a farm]

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Crazy Credits

The film's credits play alongside a series of photographs. Contribution photographers are listed at the end of the sequence. Photos were from various Flickr accounts and many names are actually Flickr members' nicknames.

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Connections

Features Frontline: The Great American Bailout (1991)

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Soundtracks

Takk
Written by J. Birgisson, O. Dryason, G. Holm, K. Sveinssin
Produced by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Powerful film about land development in Austin, TX

This film premiered at Austin's SXSW Film Festival after its initial showing a few months ago at Sundance. The Unforeseen is one of the most cinematically beautiful documentaries to appear in a long time. There are stunning sequences of Barton Springs. One could certainly feel the influence of producers Robert Redford (particularly A River Runs Through It) and Terrence Malick. The nature shots were spectacular. The story that is told is particularly powerful to those who know and love Austin, but the broader conflicts between land development and environmental protection are universal and can be well-understood, although perhaps in a less personal way, by those who have never visited Austin.

While the film is clearly takes a pro-environmental stand, it is not a one-sided polemical. It presents a sympathetic and fair portrait of land developer Gary Bradley. It lets him tell his story without making him out to be a cruel unfeeling villain. It presents the history in a nuanced light that is often missing from documentary film-making. The film includes many conflicting voices and let's the audience make its own decisions. This type of film reflects the best standards of journalistic rather ideological Michael Moore-style manipulative film-making. It presents a complicated conflict of values in a way that both takes a stand without mocking those they disagree with. While some of the narrative seems a little self-righteous at times, and the title (taken from a poem used in the film) seems a little confusing and unclear, overall, the film is an excellent lesson in history and politics. I hope that it gets wide distribution, because it is a debate that the American public needs to engage over what trade offs Americans are willing to make between the environment and development. How much of our natural beauty are we willing to give up to accommodate modernity?