Like his earlier documentary exposés (Uncovered [VL-5/04], Outfoxed [VL Online-10/04], Unconstitutional [VL-1/05]), Robert Greenwald's latest makes no pretense of being objective, and completely eschews any hint of subtlety. But that doesn't mean it misses the mark: like the other films (all of which were “highly recommended” in VL), Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price has a guerilla filmmaking look and feel (marred only by a few overly-produced, sentimental-music-backed profiles of salt of the earth families displaced by the retail giant), combining hard-hitting reportage full of onscreen statistics together with interviews from current (shot in shadow) and former Wal-Mart entry-level and management employees, small business owners squeezed out by the megastore, and David-like activists who successfully fought the corporate Goliath and blocked the building of new Wal-Mart outlets in their communities. What rankles Greenwald is not just the fact that Wal-Mart is continuously in litigation and subject to huge fines for a variety of criminal activities, ranging from using illegal immigrants as nighttime cleanup crews to breaking environmental laws, but also that the company portrays itself as the all-American family-friendly happy-face consumer one-stop in public, while privately urging employees to apply for food stamps and work overtime without pay—even as it posts record profits thanks to its steady stream of steeply-marked-up goods produced in Chinese sweatshops. On top of that, Wal-Mart manages to wrangle millions of dollars of subsidies out of communities, which not only results in shortfalls in education but also can tax local resources due to the nationwide high incidence of violent crime in Wal-Mart parking lots. Sure to be a real discussion-starter, the DVD also features a 20-minute condensed version of the film, a director's commentary, a “making-of” featurette, bonus segments, and a handful of Wal-Mart commercial parodies. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
(2005) 97 min. DVD: $12.95. The Disinformation Company (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. Volume 21, Issue 1
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: