[attrition] review: Movie: Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices

[lyger]

http://attrition.org/movies/walmart.html

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices
2005
Czarina

During a mid-winter trip earlier this year to Montreal, it was 2 degrees 
Fahrenheit outside and a couple friends and I were discussing world issues 
while sipping hot chocolate and eating a sinful dessert. Somehow, we got 
into discussing Wal-Mart. I tried explaining to my friends in both French 
and English the entire Wal-Mart phenomenon; that Wal-Mart is a part of the 
U.S culture, and that to some, it is a necessary evil, and to most, 
especially in the Southern U.S., it is an institution that is revered on 
par with most churches.

The documentary, directed by Robert Greenwald, is constructed in segments 
on how the company is affecting everyone from the local Mom & Pop 
operation in small towns to the foreign sweatshop workers who work long 
hours for little pay and are boarded in dismal living quarters.

Each segment begins with footage of Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott giving shining 
and impassioned speeches on how Wal-Mart is committed to preserving the 
environment, creating jobs, contributing to the economy, and philanthropy. 
However, there are contrasting attestations by former employees and 
executives who pull the bullshit flag and call out the retail giant for 
pollution, labor exploitations and stinginess by the company and the 
Walton family itself.

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