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

Well, Wal-Mart certainly comes off bad here. No debate.

The problem with the film is that it could have been more effective if it'd been structured better. The story is told in chapters -- first we get the "employee" chapter. Then we get the "Wal-Mart ruined our mom-and-pop store" chapter. Then we get into Wal-Mart destroying communities and not caring about the environment and outsourcing jobs to China.

Basically -- most of us aren't Wal-Mart employees. Most of us don't own small-town retail stores. We can't relate to their "hook." Sure, I sympathized...but thinking "those poor people" isn't the same thing as feeling personally offended. Leading with the crimes felt by the general public would've been smarter. The story's structured like this: "You know that guy? He's a bully. He flicked boogers on that other guy. He also insulted this other really nice dude you don't know. And he poisoned a girl's dog. Oh -- and he's holding your grandfather hostage." Kinda backwards, right?

There was also some serious inconsistency in the recording levels. At times I had to have the volume as far up as it could go to make out some of dialogue, which caused a sudden shock when the next interviewee's voice blasted full force.

Certainly interesting and makes a solid case -- but it's just not as effective as the material warrants.

B