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The Unforeseen is a case study of the interaction of real estate development, democracy, and money. It asks us to consider the costs of suburban sprawl. It also asks us to consider the value of the natural resources we cherish.

Outside of Austin, Texas, is Barton Springs where an underground aquifer comes to the surface. It has been a popular place for swimming for many years. When a large international corporation started to develop land in the area, many people were concerned that it would ruin Barton Springs. Public opinion was mobilized. One city council meeting ran all night and late into the next morning as speaker after speaker had their say in opposition to the plans. Finally, the city council had little recourse but to deny the plan. Victory number one for the people. To make sure that this spot would be protected, the people of Austin passed an initiative two years later to set certain restrictions on development. Victory number two for the people.

But these victories were short-lived. Soon the developers hired one of the most powerful lobbyists in Texas to get the legislature to pass a law nullifying the will of the people. Governor Ann Richardson vetoed it, but when George W. Bush became governor, the bill was signed. Final victory to the developers.

The issue is a bit more complicated than environment versus development and money versus the people, but those two issues are worth thinking about, and The Unforeseen gives us a chance to focus on these aspects. I was especially disturbed by the way money could undo the democratic process. Disturbed, but not surprised.

But the film really is designed to be more than a look at the problems involved in growth as seen in sprawl. It was designed to have a truly spiritual side as well. When Executive Producer Terrence Malick (director of The Thin Red Line and The New World) approached Laura Dunn about directing this film, his idea was "Take Barton Springs as that which God gave us, and look at what we're doing to it." Throughout the film, people spoke of Barton Springs as a place where they had some kind of spiritual connection. The film shows old stills of a baptism service. People speak of the renewal they find there. Robert Redford (another Executive Producer) speaks of his connection to family at the Springs, where he first learned to swim.

To add to the feel of spirituality, throughout the film, Wendell Berry reads from his poem "Santa Clara Valley" in which he talks about all the "foreseen" effects that money and people have on the land. Much of the film deals in fact: interviews with people involved on both sides, archival footage of the political process. But it also relies on not only Berry's poem, but on a bit of visual poetry: a lone man walking under or along freeways, swimmers in Barton Springs, a farmer standing on the edge of his land next to the newest development.

I've read some reviews of the film that dislike the poetry. They want answers to the problems, not poetry. But sometimes, it is the poet who sees most clearly that before we can find an answer, we have to take the problem into ourselves. This is what The Unforeseen seeks to do with the problems growth brings to our environment. There really are high costs to be paid. But those costs will never equal the value of what we lose.