The Unforeseen

The American dream of owning a house with a white picket fence goes head to head with environmental sustainability in this urgent, beautifully crafted documentary. when a ambitious real estate developer sets out to transform thousands of acres of pristine hill country in Austin, Texas into a suburban development - threatening a nearby natural spring - the community fights back. In the conflict that ensues, we see in miniature a struggle that is playing out in cities and towns across the country. Breathtaking in score, The Unforeseen questions what we're willing to give up in the name of growth.

First-time feature filmmaker Laura Dunn transforms an idea suggested to her by legendary director Terrence Malick into a cinematic reality with an ambitious documentary detailing the rise of a West Texas farm boy-turned-wildly successful real-estate mogul, and the landmark environmental movement that his actions inadvertently set into motion. In the late-'70s, the city of Austin, TX, was ripe for change. Recognizing the remarkable potential for both growth and financial profit in such a rapidly expanding boomtown, aspiring real-estate tycoon Gary Bradley set his own American dream into motion by turning a 4,000-acre ranch into the biggest and fastest-selling subdivision in the entire state of Texas. His sizable development would stir controversy in the community, however, when the locals learned that it would likely mean the end of the delicate limestone aquifer and spring-fed swimming that has stood as a local landmark for generations. Determined not to let the precious natural resource run dry at any cost, the concerned citizens decided to do everything in their power to fight the development. In the ensuing battle, one of America's most powerful environmental movements was born. Robert Redford and Willie Nelson appear in a though-provoking film that weighs the economics of the American dream against the destruction of the natural world in an effort to explore just what price we, and future generations, are willing to pay for the luxuries of modern living. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide