June 23, 2008
The Unforeseen — Recommended
Cindy and I saw this documentary at the Angelica in Dallas yesterday. It’s great for those who have an Austin connection–and great for those who don’t. If it’s not showing in your area you might want to add it to your Netflix list.
One of the things I like best about this documentary is the inspiration it offers for those who want to confront the economically powerful. It very clearly makes the point that everything that stimulates the economy is not therefore positive in nature: a train wreck generates the need for clean-up hires and for orders for new train cars to be built. Here you will see the problems that result when short term ambitions collide with trans-generational values. And the film is very well edited: it shows a vast range of desires and the human weaknesses–and courage– that attend the fight to realize them.
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This film was directed by my friend Laura Dunn! She was just telling me the DVD is coming out in September.
Ann, your friend did a marvelous job. One of the things I like best about the film is that it presents all sides objectively. Clearly, the film was approached from an environmentalist perspective, but Dunn is very careful to present the developers in a fair and honest light. In that sense, it is more of a true documentary than many films offered as such these days.
I was also surprised by the relatively large audience we encountered. We saw it on Saturday afternoon at the Angelika in Dallas, and I’d say the theater was 2/3 full. And they were good-natured, quick to burst into ironic laughter at some of the outrageous claims made in defense of development around Barton Springs. For a couple of hours, I felt like I was in Austin rather than Dallas!