This is a documentary about Walmart: the big US supermarket corporation which also owns Asda in the UK. You can tell by the title that the film-makers have a problem with the way Walmart operates, and this film examines some of their business practices and aims to show that there is something rotten going on.We all know how this sort of film works. There's a new breed of feature-length "issue" documentary, typified by Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11 and Sicko and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. They use a combination of humour, narration and interview footage to convince us about their cause. Even if we don't agree with their conclusions, or we doubt that they're telling us all the facts, we can still find them entertaining.Unfortunately, this movie fails on both counts. It's not particularly entertaining, nor does it do a good job of persuading. At least, it failed to persuade me that Walmart was any more evil than any large company. The main criticisms that the movie made seemed to be that Walmart is so popular that smaller businesses are driven out of town, and that they do not give their employees many perks, such as health-care. Neither argument really wins for me, and they are presented in an overly mawkish and sentimental way. Members of the public are wheeled on to give their own sob story, usually about how their health has suffered/they have lost money/their cat was killed because of the evil organisation under scrutiny. Michael Moore is often guilty of the same offence, to be fair. Then, sprinkled among the pathos, there is usually some light relief. But Walmart: The High Cost Of Low Price fails to deliver the laughs, leaving us with a movie in which a succession of people moan about nothing in particular.I expect that this film will be enjoyed by people with an axe to grind over big business, but it's easy to preach to the choir. To the innocent bystander, it's a waste of time.

If you watch this documentary with already some negative opinions about Walmart, this documentary will likely add fuel to your disdain and put you into the category of thinking that Walmart is indeed a huge "evil empire" retail giant who cares nothing for its employees or its effect on small towns and whose bottom line is their bottom line.But if, like me, you watched this with no pre-conceived negative or positive feelings about Walmart, you'll probably end up with more questions than answers. A few points, IMHO:--I kept thinking that most of the points could probably be made about *any* large ("big-box") retail store such as K-mart, Home Depot, Lowe's and so forth. I didn't learn anything that I considered was likely completely Walmart-specific.--About China working conditions. Yes, they suck. But Walmart is not unique in purchasing goods from China, and I'd bet that the number of consumers in the USA who have never purchased anything made in China is likely very close to 0%. That doesn't mean we shouldn't care about Chinese sweat shops, but other than making an effort not to buy things branded "made outside USA", what should USA consumers do?--About parking lots: well, I'd guess that Walmart is not the only large retail store that has had issues with parking lot crimes. We need better security in Walmart parking lots? OK--I agree; but most other parking lots probably could use better security too.I could go on and on, but *my* bottom line is that this story could apply to many retail giants, not just Walmart.If you don't like working conditions or pay at Walmart, then don't work there.If this documentary convinces you that Walmart is bad, then don't shop there.In the meantime, folks will keep shopping there and folks will keep working there and the world will go on.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price scores high for its strong message. In a classical political pamphlet Greenwald makes exposes facts about Wal-Mart that make your jaw drop, even though you don't have to agree with him.What bothered me extremely was it's horrible production value though. The soundtrack really stands out for its horrible quality. It is sometimes not anything better than experimental student television. As if they never watched the end product, pompous music is played bluntly over quotes as if they don't matter, and it seems they never took someone with them that had any knowledge of recording sound. Especially towards the end, I sometimes put my hands to my ears because of the wall of noise that was coming towards me.Bad editing is key. Cheap footage is abundant. The camera (wo)man was creative in its framing, but seemed to suffer from Parkinson's.Greenwald has wrapped a strong political message in a wet and wrinkled newspaper, instead of the great wrapping that it deserves.

I agree that this documentary Wal-Mart the High Cost of Low Price, is clearly showing us just one side of the story which as we all know is Wal-Mart= Bad and this makes it not very credible in its reporting.But I don't wanna see some lawyers and CEO's and spokespeople defend Wal-Mart and its greedy paws. Of course every giant corporation and bureaucracy operates (more or less) in a similar fashion as Wal Mart and I know they are not the only bad corporation in America and the world (just like Nike wasn't the only one with sweatshops 5 years ago) but that is not an excuse. I think people deserve and want to know all the dealings of Wal Mart and its exploitation of its workers and the corporate system in their favour. We need to know and they need to know that we know. And just because Michael Moore gave Wal Mart bad rap in Bowling for Columbine doesn't mean the story ends there- true WalMart is an easy target but again, Michael Moore never went in detail of the way Wal Mart works as a business and this is what this documentary does.For example, I am sure we are all quite conscious of the bad synonyms surrounding Wal Mart (especially about driving small businesses into bankruptcy, having sweatshops and the latest revelation of illegal workers). But all that wasn't enough for me to hate Wal Mart since it seems that today 99% of big companies operate in a similar fashion- not that it makes it right. On top of it, I would see all those happy commercials telling us Wal Mart cares about its employees and its customers, it gives back to the community yadda yadda yadda, so what is one to think? BUT then, when you finally see what Wal Mart doesn't provide health insurance for its workers, makes them use government subsidies, low wages, long hours, steals hours, discriminates against women, allows racism, intimidates and spies on its workers, anti-UNION, doesn't care about pollution...and etc, you finally get the big picture of it all.