There can scarcely be a company in the entire world that evokes as much hatred and disgust as Wal-Mart, the largest retailer on Planet Earth. As much as its low prices have helped keep a segment of the public afloat at a time of rising food costs and stagnating wages, the way it goes about achieving this can only be considered flagrantly repugnant. Wal-Mart stiffs its suppliers, underpays its staff and destroys any and all competition within 50 square miles of any of its superstores. While the price may be right in the store, is the destruction of a small-town way of life, the continued poverty of its own employees and the dashed hopes and dreams of competing business owners really a price worth paying?
Robert Greenwald�s documentary attempts to answer that question, and as you might imagine by the phrasing I used he�s not particularly enthusiastic regarding the Arkansas giant. This is a hit piece, plain and simple. The only question we have to ask is: is the criticism fair, and by extension, is the documentary actually any good? After all, anyone can write a piece lambasting Wal-Mart, it doesn�t mean it�s worth reading or watching. On this point Greenwald has a fair few misses to his name. At times the camerawork and editing look very amateurish, and there isn�t much of a flow to the film at times. Beyond this, episodes dealing with Wal-Mart�s supply operations in China simply do not fit and any competent director would have seen fit to cut them immediately. It�s obvious to see that Greenwald�s hatred for Wal-Mart blinds him to the need to make his film as good as possible.
Other than this fundamental error, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices does sterling investigative work exposing some well-known and now so well-known practices that could be considered at best despicable. Interviews with many past and present Wal-Mart employees paints a bleak and sometimes illegal picture, with employees frequently underpaid and often living off state welfare more than their wages. The company�s blas� attitude to parking lot security was one of the most graphic portions, with a long roll-call of assaults, rapes and murders of customers flashing before your eyes. The negative experiences of long-serving managers also highlights a company that is frequently sexist, racist and downright misogynistic. While I can hardly say it brings much new to the table, the presentation does keep your attention and, for me, reinforced my pledge never to set foot in another Wal-Mart ever again. |
