Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005) (V)

Director:

Robert Greenwald

Release Date:

4 November 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

It will change the way you think, feel - and shop...

Plot:

A look at the impact of the retail giant on local communities.

Plot Keywords:

Big Business | Retail Trade | Consumerism | Protest | Corporation

Cast

Lee Scott	...	Himself - President & CEO of Wal-Mart (archive footage)
Don Hunter	...	Himself - H&H Hardware Owner
Jon Hunter	...	Himself - Son of Don Hunter
Jeremy Hunter	...	Himself - Son of Jon Hunter
Matt Hunter	...	Himself - Son of Jon Hunter
Johnny Faenza	...	Himself - H&H Hardware Employee
Frank Mormino	...	Himself - Owner of Middlefield Tire
Dr. John Bruening	...	Himself - Owner of Geauga Vision
Tom Glassburner	...	Himself - H&H Hardware Employee
Weldon Nicholson	...	Himself - Wal-Mart Store Manager Trainer
Al Norman	...	Himself - Founder of Sprawl-Busters
Grace Thibodeaux	...	Herself - Hearne, Texas Resident
Diane DeVoy	...	Herself - Wal-Mart Employee
Cathy Nemchik	...	Herself - Wal-Mart Employee
Stan Fortune	...	Himself - Wal-Mart District Loss Prevention Manager

Runtime:

USA:98 min | 20 min (shortened version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Ireland:PG | UK:PG | Australia:G | USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Company:

Brave New Films

Trivia:

The parodies of Wal-Mart ads that appear in the film, and were used as trailers, which appear to have been shot in Wal-Mart stores are actually greenscreen shots in which the performer has been composited.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: At the start of the section where a market trader in London, England is leading a campaign against a new ASDA store, the map has has both Wales and England labelled as 'England' - the 'Eng' is written over Wales. Wales and England (and Scotland) are part of Great Britain; Great Britain, Wales (and Scotland) are not part of England.

Movie Connections:

Features "The Daily Show" (1996)

Soundtrack:

This Land Is Your Land

Don't Buy This DVD at Walmart

I wonder how this will play in the Red States, when they see the heartland raped and pillaged by The Walton family. When they see God-fearing, flag-waving patriotic Americans whose lives have been decimated by this Evil Empire in a Big Box. People might think that a documentary like this is the territory of the "Liberal Elite," but the liberals can live in their sophisticated cities where Walmart's presence cannot make quite as big a gaping hole in the local economy...but it is the rural, Bush-voting Red Staters that should be leading the rallying cry against this company. It is especially effective to see ministers preaching about how Walmart's values are not in line with the Christian faith.

Obviously, the creators had an opinion before they started this documentary, but the findings and facts are consistent with what the mainstream media reports about the way this company is run. The long arm of Walmart is dramatic enough without necessitating the filmmakers occasional lapses into melodrama, but the points are well-made and ignoring the facts presented in this film and continuing to support this Goliath in a blue smock could be our undoing-I hope this gets passed around from person-to-person faster than the Paris Hilton sex video and also hope we soon see a documentary on how Walmart collapsed like the Roman Empire.