'The Unforeseen' looks at effects of development
MOVIE REVIEW
The filmy deftly examines the building of a subdivision in Texas and its fallout.
"The Unforeseen" has the title of a science fiction thriller, not a thoughtful documentary on the environment, but there's truth in that packaging. As directed by Laura Dunn, this unusual film unfolds like a mournful whodunit, with the Earth itself being the victim of the crime.
Taking its title from the poem "Santa Clara Valley," read in voice-over by the poet Wendell Berry in his best angry, Old Testament prophet style, "The Unforeseen" skirts the danger of being simply a tree-hugger movie, of reflexively coming out for clean air and water the way conservatives used to come out for motherhood, the flag and apple pie.
Instead this film, which took the Truer Than Fiction prize at Film Independent's recent Spirit Awards, honors the intricacies of a complex subject. It depicts the battle between the competing interests of developers and environmentalists as it played out over a 30-year period in the area around Austin, Texas, and turns it into a convincing microcosm for land use issues everywhere.
Although a more conventional documentary might start by trumpeting the problem, "The Unforeseen" favors a more indirect, even oblique approach. It buries its aims and eases into its subject matter, forcing us to pay attention to understand exactly where things are going.
So "The Unforeseen" begins with gnarled old men talking about how difficult farm life can be. Then another, somewhat younger man describes the way the harshness of rural living, the dependence on the sometime beneficence of an often harsh nature, led him to leave the farm and move to Austin, where he began a career as a developer.
That man is Gary Bradley, someone who can talk almost poetically about development as "painting a picture on a canvas." When he came to Austin in 1972, he considered it "the perfect place to develop," and began putting together what was to be the 4,000-acre Circle C Ranch subdivision.
"The Unforeseen's" refusal to demonize Bradley, whom the press notes refer to as "one of the most controversial real estate developers in Central Texas," is one of its strengths. Instead director Dunn adopts the attitude of veteran political writer William Greider, who says "there's something appealing about developers. They say 'We're going to reshape the future, we're going to have fun, and we're going to get rich.' They end up wondering 'where did it go off the rails.' " Which is exactly what happened with Bradley.
