WAL- MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE
US, 2006, 93 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Robert Greenwald.
Two years ago, multiplexes around the UK screened the documentary Super Size Me. It was a persuasive look at how Morgan Spurlock ate only at Mc Donald’s for a month and the effect that it had on his health. Mc Donalds had to take notice.
The popularity of documentaries screening in cinemas has been a recent phenomenon. Michael Moore has had a great deal to do with it. First there was his Bowling for Columbine on America’s gun culture and the increasing number of shooting sprees. It won an Oscar. Then there was his Fahrenheit 911 which won the Grand Prix at Cannes and took over $120,000,000 in the United States alone.
One of the targets of documentaries which larger audiences are interested in seeing is globalisation and the effect on economies. Only a few weeks ago, a fine documentary went on release, Enron, the Smartest Men in the Room. It was appalling to watch – appalling in the sense that the irresponsible behaviour of Enron leaders and executives, gambling with seemingly unlimited funds and making presumptions that extremely speculative ventures would pay off defied belief. Appalling also were the repercussions for thousands of Enron employees who saw their pensions diminished or disappeared.
Wal- Mart: the High Cost of Low Price is in the same vein.
While many people might not choose this as an entertaining night out, if they went to see it, they would find it as interesting – or more so – than some of the dramas and thrillers that pass the time. There is an advantage in seeing a hard-hitting documentary on the big screen, in a darkened theatre where there are no interruptions and one can concentrate on the stories being told and the information being presented.
One might also add that the Catholic Church has a history of social justice teaching, especially since Pope Leo XIII in 1891 with his encyclical letter on labour, Rerum Novarum, which was influenced by Cardinal Manning of Westminster and the experience of the strikes of the period. Recently Pope Benedict XVI wrote about love, highlighting also the justice dimension of charity. Documentaries like this make for an alert to contemporary issues of social justice with which the churches need to be involved. They offer challenging material for debates and for group discussions.
Director Robert Greenwald has done his research on Wal- Mart and launches a hard-hitting attack on their principles and practice. One reviewer likened it to carpet bombing. It is not particularly subtle. Rather, it is an accumulation of evidence that is dismaying and sometimes shocking.
After showing how the company takes over prime land, forcing many local businesses to close down, it gives information about repressive work conditions and practices and control and lowering of wages. A surprising number of statistics show successful class actions against the company for millions of dollars in damages or compensation. As if this were not bad enough, the film also takes up the poor record of environmental care with more images and statistics of campaigns and legal action taken (and won) against the company for water supply contamination and other offences.
Two other alarming issues come up. First, is the lack of security in the large car-parks with frightening information and stories about the amount of crime committed in these locations. The second is the boast that the company buys and sells American goods – followed by footage of the continuous labour in sweatshops in China, Bangladesh and Latin America.
The film ends on a rousing high as it shows people power confronting the company in Inglewood California and persuading the local council to deny a permit for Wal- Mart to come in. This is followed by a long list of US towns who have voted against the company.
Stances for justice are more than possible.
