September 12, 2007
Give Edwards Aquifer a Hug – Go See The Unforeseen Tonight!
There will always be chatter about Austin's changing landscape, much as there will always be supporters for both developers and the environment. We want the privilege of taking a dip in a glistening spring-fed pool, but we also want to have a robust economy that allows us to continue working and living in this city. Some would argue that the two desires aren't mutually exclusive, but we all know that it's a sticky subject.
In the documentary The Unforeseen, Austin-based director Laura Dunn chronicles both sides of the growth war here in our fair city, and outlines how the last 20 to 30 years of our local history mirrors those of communities across our nation. We had the chance to speak with Dunn before SXSW this year; tonight's your chance to speak with her yourself, as the Paramount Theater will host a screening of The Unforeseen to benefit the S.O.S. Alliance. A special Q&A session with Dunn, cinematographer Lee Daniel, and SOS executive director Bill Bunch will follow the film.
Unlike Michael Moore and the other I'm-so-much-smarter-than-you documentarians of today, Dunn takes a more journalistic approach, allowing her subjects to speak for themselves. Her most controversial chronicle is that of Gary Bradley, the West Texas farm boy who traveled to Austin and became one of the largest real estate developers in the state. He knew that people wanted to realize their white-picket fence fantasies, and made plans to carpet the pristine hill country with subdivisions that would directly contribute to the destruction of the delicate ecosystem stemming from the Edwards Aquifer. Of course, that notion did not sit well with many locals, who would eventually band together to form the Save Our Spring Legal Defense Fund—now called the S.O.S Alliance.
S.O.S. was able to hold off the whirling dervish of development with help from Governor Ann Richards, but when George W. Bush took the state's executive reins in 1995, development patterns changed. The water quality at Barton Springs, as well as the surrounding landscape of Austin, was irreversibly transformed.
At its core, The Unforeseen is a meditation on the endless struggle between preservation and destruction, and how the dreams of every American conflict with the notion that we can have it both ways. Dunn's film begs the question of how we, as a development-minded society, can refurbish our relationship between the natural world that sustains our very lives, and the modern day trappings that we so desire to possess.
Laura Dunn Presents The Unforeseen - a benefit for the Save Our Springs Alliance
Wednesday, September 12
Doors/Bar @ 6 pm | Show @ 7 pm
The Paramount Theater
$10/$20, tickets available at the door
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We get it. You hate Michael Moore at the Austinist. He makes you feel stupid. So far you've said:
"I'm-so-much-smarter-than-you documentarian"
"an anti-American nutjob"
"over-exaggerating"
"his point of view is often that he has it all figured out, and that everyone else is stupid."
You're alienating your potential audience every single time you talk about documentaries with this nonsense. Why can't you just say that this documentary is not a Michael Moore style documentary? Or that it is not a documentary where the filmmaker is also the protagonist? I stopped reading this review because I just can't read another documentary review that starts with you talking about how Michael Moore makes you feel dumb. I love documentaries. Everyone I know, knows that the majority of documentaries are not like those directed by Michael Moore. Move on.
Actually, I believe what Kerry said in her post was "Whether you like Michael Moore or think he is an anti-american nutjob, he is coming out with a new movie." She also followed it up with this:
"While Moore is more concerned with pushing his agenda than telling all sides of the story, many of the issues he exposes are real and do need to be addressed."
And this - "his point of view is often that he has it all figured out, and that everyone else is stupid." - was a direct quote from director Laura Dunn, not the austinist writer.
Let me strip out of the royal "we" here for a sec....In reality, I actually think that Michael Moore does a great job of pointing out egregious errors in society (in fact, I've seen every one of his films in the theater, giving my hard earned money to continue his work), but the point I was trying to get across in this particular post was that he doesn't cover both sides of the debate (Possibly because no one wants to talk to him....) while Laura Dunn is trying to at least give the "villain" a voice. Maybe if Michael Moore would actually try to know his subjects intimately and how they got to the place they are in their lives presently (be they health insurance company executives, gun manufacturers, what have you) people wouldn't see him as someone who just wants to push an agenda, and instead view him as a true storyteller.
You can really only feel alienated if you allow yourself to feel that way. After all, it's just an oppinion. I know that you are a fairly loyal reader, Tim, as you have commented on my posts in the past, so please take everything I say, or what anyone else on this site says for that matter, with a grain of the most delicious salt. Perhaps that will cut the puckering.
Moving on....