Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

 

 

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I am writing the review because I just recommended this film to a friend and had to try to recall what it's about and why I found it compelling and valuable.

This film is a collage of perspectives, or puzzle pieces, that unite to explain the impact of globalization via transnational retail giant Wal-Mart. The main obstacle to putting these pieces together ourselves and understanding the affect of operations like Wal-mart on society is that our knowledge of them is limited: we know that Wal-mart offers products at prices that are among the lowest anywhere; what we do not know, and perhaps have not cared to know, is exactly how Wal-mart manages to do that.

Reviews that attack this film for its production values are off the mark. This film is not a slick production because its objective is to simply show us, like YouTube for example, what people are saying and doing and in this case what happens when lower price is chosen as the sole motive for purchase. We get a glimpse of what happens to producers and suppliers, to middle and small retailers, to Wal-mart employees and even to its customers and the environment.

I was amazed to learn for example of assaults in Wal-mart parking lots and their policy with regard to these incidents. Also, I do not know what it is like to work there and so hearing from actual employees was very insightful. It was also enlightening to hear from some of their competitors, particularly smaller mom and pop operations that had been around for a long time and who have been surprised and learned that competition is healthy, but only when it is able to exist.

Reviews that attack this film for not presenting a balanced perspective are also inaccurate. With the company constantly advertising and blowing its own horn with regard to the value of shopping there, is the impact of Wal-mart balanced? The combined wealth of the Walton family is near $80 billion, with Sam Walton's heirs all in the top 20 of the worlds wealthiest people while Walmart's wages and benefits also set standards but more at the other end of the spectrum. Most people seem to think that shopping there is a good idea but other than to save a few bucks over the short term, is it really?

The High Cost of Low Price refers to official Wal-mart policies, provides quotes, and perspectives of company officials when possible, and interviews with public officials who have had occasion to deal with them. In the end we learn that this corporation holds its cards very close, and that anyone who tries to find out what's going on in there is going to have a hard time finding anything out.

That's why this film is valuable. It's an eye opener, and a must for anyone who believes that driving prices lower can only be a good thing.

Even if you don't buy it, watch this. I don't give it 5 stars only because some of the other reviewers mentioned that some of its production quality isn't the greatest, in addition the ending gets a little corny and pointless. But everything up until the last 15 or so minutes of this movie is quite good. As far as the argument portraying only one side or leaving out the 'good' Wal-Mart does...

1. Let Wal-Mart make their own case, if I'm critiquing Wal-Mart, why should I have to defend them?

2. What 'good'?

If your argument is "These jobs are better than no jobs!" I disagree, Jobs that hold you in poverty are not better than being forced to find another way to make money. Watch this movie!

First of all, I want to say that I actually do share the director's opinions about the way Wal-Mart conducts its business but my opinion is entirely based on other sources of information. Although this movie does raise some interesting points, the way it is put together makes it appear to be a one-sided, biased opinion and I found it hard to go along with whatever was being said.

Also, I think this film has the some of the worst production values I have ever seen. The footage is awful (bad framing and composition, shaky shots) and the editing is garbage (terrible cuts, text all over the place, no overall theme). The only few minutes that did not give me a headache were just cliché sequences that have been done a million times before (e.g. sepia tinted stills of deserted streets and abandoned shops fading slowly over a slow guitar lick). Robert Greenwald is not a director, he is a just a guy with a computer and a digital camera and he unfortunately does not know how to properly use either of those tools.

It's a real shame this film is such a bust because it deals with an interesting and meaningful topic, but unfortunately no one will take it seriously.

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1.0 out of 5 stars I was interested in this movie until I read the last review
Thanks to the last reviewer for convincing me that this movie is not worth watching (i.e., "what good"?). Read more

Published 22 months ago by Benjamin J. Atkinson

2.0 out of 5 stars Good to treat the film as part one
This dvd only shows the negative side of Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, there are no other dvd to back up Wal-Mart, and maybe it's just more interesting to keep it this way as a good... Read more

Published on May 20 2006 by Joe W Shum

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre at best
While the DVD presents a fair amount of factual information, true to documentary style it paints a picture very heavily on one side of the story only. Read more

Published on Jan 10 2006 by Toddy Boy

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