Director Robert Greenwald, who in previous documentaries exposed the ugly underbelly of Fox News (Outfoxed) and the questionable intelligence used to go to war against Iraq (Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War), has now set his sights on the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, in his disappointing new documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.
The problem with The High Cost of Low Price is that the information is not really all that informative — because we've heard it all before, from author Greg Palast in his book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy to the PBS Frontline special, "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?"
Greenwald interviews current and former Wal-Mart "associates" (the low-wage earning workers) and managers to tell the story of how Wal-Mart, like so many corporations, is only concerned with its bottom line, and uses its vast resources to promote a folksy, down-home American image of a company that cares for the environment, its employees, and the community the company is a part of. And is it really surprising to learn that Wal-Mart routinely cheated workers out of overtime pay? Or that women were not being promoted into management? Or that the workers in overseas factories worked long hours for very low pay? Perhaps the Wal-Mart shopper who isn't aware of the lengths a corporation will go to in order to maximize profits will be affected by The High Price of Low Cost.
The film attempts to connect Wal-Mart to crimes comitted in its vast parking lots. And I'm not so sure you can make that connection. And let me say right now I'm no apologist for Wal-Mart (nor do I shop at Wal-Mart), but there are many large stores all across America with huge parking lots that are not patrolled by security. Greenwald does reveal an internal Wal-Mart memo that acknowledges the problem of crime at Wal-Mart parking lots, and how roving patrols of security guards can reduce the crime rate to almost nothing. Which would mean hiring security guards and purchasing golf carts for thousands of stores, and I don't think any large retail corporation would be willing to do that. The bottom line is the bottom line. Always.
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Article comments
1 - Aaman
Good review - thanks very much
2 - Al Barger
Good work Scott. You seem like you would be highly receptive to a strong critique of Wal-Mart. It takes a fairly significant act of will at this point to avoid the gravitational pull of shopping at Wal-Mart. So, if YOU think this thing is weak, then it doesn't sound like much for corporate headquarters to worry about.
3 - Scott C. Smith
Al,
It wasn't so much an issue of the film being weak, but more along the lines that I've already heard the horror stories of Wal-Mart from other sources. For someone who hasn't heard about the real Wal-Mart I'd say this would be a good film to watch to open your eyes to the situation, coupled with the "Frontline" special (which can be viewed online).
But if you're like me, and already have heard it all about corporate America and huge retail chains like Wal-Mart, the film's revelations will be old news.
4 - Al Barger
From your comments, it doesn't sound like there's much dirt to be had on Wal Mart, other than that they're a business and try to make as much money as they legally can.
Doesn't sound like there's any kind of white collar crime here, no Enron. Not paying the big bucks for a bunch of extra security is a pretty weak scandal.
From your description here, sounds like their only major crime is simply being in business.
5 - Tan The Man
Is the crime rate in Wal-Mart parking lots that huge? I've never heard of that before, it makes sense. I should watch this. Another shot at Wal-Mart is a good thing.
6 - Scott Butki
I'm scheduled to do a discussion of this movie tomorrow. I'll write up my own review and let others know how the discussion went.
Should be interesting in light of all the other Wal-Mart items in the news this week
7 - Scott Butki
Here's my summary of recent weird news events about
Wal-Mart.
8 - Scott Butki
I have been struggling to write up my review of the new Wal-Mart movie.
Meanwhile I came across an excellent review in Reason that spelled out - sometimes in language more blunk and adult than I would use - the movie's problems.
It's well worth a read.
My problems with the movie include that while it should be shooting fish in a barrell it instead is sloppy, unorganized, oversimplified, patronizing.
As that review says....
A "quack" has been defined as someone who's got something good for you, no matter what's wrong with you. That must make documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald a kind of anti-quack. No matter what you think is wrong with the worldâ€"environmental degradation, street crime, poverty, outsourcing, racial prejudice, failing public schoolsâ€"Greenwald knows something that's making the problem worse: Wal-Mart.
In Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, the director of Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and Uncovered: The War on Iraq, flings an ample supply of feces at the world's largest retailer and hopes that some of it will stick. Some of it does. But a far larger pile, alas, sails from the screen, falls short of its target, and lands with an unceremonious plop on your coffee table.
That's too bad, because there are some solid points in the film, providing genuine grounds for criticism of Wal-Mart.
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I'll write up my review this weekend