Shibboleth or Sibboleth?
It’s interesting to see how a city like San Fran takes the film. More often than not, reviewers at SFiFF want more activism. Like Peter Coyote, this reviewer wanted more bite and more solutions.
- Positives - “Amazing looking movie.”
- “Amazingly sophisticated, docs have come a long long way since I started watching them.”
- “Looks fabulous.”
- Negatives - Wants “a more sophisticated take on its subject.”
- Doesn’t ask “the hard questions.”
- Fails to account for “Growing march for greener tech and living”
- “Stuck in an anachronistic paradigm” (developers evil, environmentalists good)
As someone hopelessly cynical about the political realm (disclaimer: Jef speaking) I’m particularly curious as to which reviewers react to the film’s philosophical/spiritual questions and which see it in terms of “issues” and “activism.”
For viewers who see the Political Sphere as the firmament, I imagine The Unforeseen will be a let down. Some have expections that the film will take on development from the, er, shall we say ‘the reigning technique of documentary filmmaking’ (Namely, “The Tomb Raider School of Documentary Filmmaking” i.e. Run around, Shoot at Enemies, Keep filmmaker permanently embedded in the foreground.)
Those reviewers who perceive the film to be sliced along a spiritual plane (and NOT merely a political one) are getting much more out of the film than those who lament it lacked sufficient “edge” or “solutions.”
These two reviews in particular have perhaps meant the most to the team (not because of the stature of their publications 
) but because they genuinely see the film working on a different level altogether.
Pic takes the history and battles over development and sprawl in Austin, Texas, and launches into a visual, scientific and philosophic rumination of humanity’s place on the planet and the limits to growth… As a cinematic contemplation of human activity on the planet, it far surpasses “An Inconvenient Truth” and its more lecture-like message on global warming. Robert Koehler, Variety
Deploying motion graphics and aerial photography to increasingly mesmerizing effect, and adopting what can only be described as a lyrical approach, Dunn interweaves this gripping narrative of political resistance with the personal story of one of the development’s prime movers, a now-bankrupt real-estate whiz kid whose surprisingly self-reflective interview allows the film to transcend its specifics and finally attain an almost metaphysical realm. - Gavin Smith, Film Comment.
So, all of this is really to say “Caveat Emptor.”
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About The Unforeseen
The Unforeseen, executive produced by Terrence Malick and Robert Redford, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Called "the best film at the festival, hands down" by Film Comment's Gavin Smith, the film documents the struggles between development and preservation of Austin Texas.
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