Grade: B | Genre: Documentary Summary: As with any film with an ax to grind, Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price isn't nearly as effective as it could be if it took a more level approach to its commentary, but it is an eye opening array of facts that support its case very effectively. When I first started college at Georgia Southern, Statesboro had just gotten its first Wal-mart. Not just any Wal-mart, but a Wal-mart Supercenter. It was a hulking behemoth that dwarfed the small college town in its shadow. This one-stop shopping center was largely seen as an overwhelming plus since you could get your tires rotated, eyes checked and weekly grocery shopping wrapped all under the same roof. It was a mini city that you really had no need to ever leave as Novalee discovers in Where the Heart Is. As the months on the calendar fell to the floor, the town started to realize the harsh unspoken undercurrent felt when Wal-mart moves in. Half the grocery stores went belly up. Only the Publix and the Piggly Wiggly, right off campus, could compete. Also, many mom and pop stores, like the Ace Hardware, saw their business cut so drastically that they couldn't afford to keep their doors open. Some of these businesses had been fixtures of this communities for several generations. We saw the power that this one store held, crippling small businesses and putting consumers under its mystical spell. The new documentary film Wal-mart: the High Cost of Low Price takes on the retail giant to shed some much needed light on the sins and corporate malfeasance of the company that defines America every bit as much as McDonald's.

You should know going in that this documentary definitely has an agenda. Wal-mart is evil and its here to expel its weary influence over our lives. As with any film with an ax to grind, Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price isn't nearly as effective as it could be if it took a more level approach to its commentary, but it is an eye opening array of facts that support its case very effectively. The film starts by looking at the Hunter family who has run the H&H Hardware for the past 43 years. One day Wal-mart moves into their town and while they know changes are in store, they naively think they are still in the game and can compete based on excellence in service. Try finding a knowledgeable person to help you with shimming a pipe at Wal-mart they think. The reality of the situation settles in as their customers slowly bleed off to the low cost leader, leaving H&H with no choice but to shut its doors after a lifetime of serving the community.

Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price Director: Robert Greenwald Related Articles Born into Brothels Syriana Good Night and Good Luck

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Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Price rolls out many interesting facts from anti-union instructional videos lifted from the Wal-mart break room to store managers trying to cut expenses at literally any cost. This includes recent media gaffes like hiring undocumented illegal immigrants and widespread discrimination against female employees. They also fall prey to employing sweatshops in Asia to keep the costs low. The average garment worker in Bangladesh is working 14-hour days for 13 to 17 cents an hour. When one Wal-mart manager attempted to alert upper management to the squalid working conditions in the companies' factories in Honduras, the employee found himself without a job.

The documentary falters a bit when trying to make its case for a work force whose health care is supported by government programs like Medicaid and living on food stamps. Wal-mart just happens to be one of the largest employers of undereducated workers in America. It's no surprise that there is a huge chasm between the haves and the have-nots in this country. The current administration has seen fit to do its best to try to widen that gap to sickening proportions. When Wal-mart's employees are trying to support their families on minimum wage salaries, its not any surprise that they are going to strain to make ends meet. This is a larger problem outside of the realm of Wal-mart. It just happens to show up in a pronounced fashion due to the financial status of the bulk of its employees.

While I'm not exactly ready to throw Wal-mart in with the Enron's and the WorldCom's of the sleazy corporate world, Wal-mart certainly has a lot to answer for. Its business practices and disregard for their employees and customer's well being cuts into every principle they are trying to embolden in our minds. When you pad the pockets of your stockholders and the Walton heirs, at the tune of 18 billion a piece, its time to step back and make sure you are running a business efficiently as possible while still taking care of those people that make your business everything that it is. Without them, you would have nothing, and the growing distaste America is feeling towards Wal-mart may well spell the goliaths doom if it doesn't wake up to its inherent responsibilities as a corporation in the consumer food chain.