Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2005
6.8| 1h38m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 04 November 2005 Released
Producted By: Brave New Films
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.walmartmovie.com/
Info

This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.

Genre

Documentary

Watch Online

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Cast

Lee Scott

Director

Robert Greenwald

Production Companies

Brave New Films

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Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price Videos and Images
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  • Crew
Lee Scott as Himself - President & CEO of Wal-Mart (archive footage)

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price Audience Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!
Mjeteconer Just perfect...
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Lomedin So here we have a bunch of bush-followers, murderous-hypocrites, self-righteous Nazis claiming that wal-mart is an evil from China that is destroying their community.OK. Let me be clear: I'm against corporations, against the abuse of the weak and against laws that favor the rich over the less fortunate. I'm also against cheap products that destroy the planet, with the use of chemicals and pollutants needed to transform their raw material into the final toxic, non-biodegradable and easy-to-break mostly unnecessary little capitalist/consumerist treasure. Certainly, Wal-Mart is accomplice to some or all of that. But so are the "little" businesses. American products, generally, are not much better than Chinese when it comes to green production. Sure, there are more regulations, although they're either ignored or simply bureaucratic garbage that it's there to sound good and doesn't achieve anything in reality.Apart from that, blaming Wal-Mart for the destruction of small businesses is absurd: blame the same communities you claim to be the victim. No-one forces people to go shopping in Wal-Mart, so it's the customers who destroy all other businesses, not the corporation itself. Don't go pointing fingers if you are not going to do it for everybody involved. It reminds me, somehow, to the way people complained about Ryanair being terrible, with crappy policies and pauper customer service. Then I'd go: "So, you aren't using that airline any longer". To which I, inevitably, would receive the answer: "Well, they are cheap, so..." Honestly, people are plain dumb.I certainly am happy that families like the ones portrait in this trashy documentary get broken. It seems that whoever directed this rubbish thought it'd marvelous to show how these bigots love to kill animals "for sport", how they support the NRA and how proud they are to be citizens of "the greatest free country in the world".Yeah, right.
jimthehiker-1 What is the issue here? Don't we live in America where capitalism is what builds and strengthens our country. I saw the video on Direct TV in the middle of the night. Otherwise I would not have bought such propaganda.The film mentioned how Wal-Mart Is unfair to its employees, (ie: discrimination, poor wages, cheating the workers of overtime pay, etc...). How is the supposedly unfair working conditions different than any other employer in the U.S.? I looked into the insurance policies for example, and Wal-mart does provide insurance to all of it's employees, part-time or full time. The ratio of dissatisfied employees are no more than you would see at any other job. If an employee is that dissatisfied let them find another job. Maybe that is why Wal-mart has so many employees. Wal-Mart has found the key to success and everyone else feels cheated, (if you want to complain about a monopoly attack Microsoft).I do not work, but I do shop at Wal-mart, and enjoy the low prices. Yes the merchandise comes from other countries, but again give me a store that only sells merchandise from the U.S. and no one will shop there because of the extreme high prices (UNIONS HAVE IMPOSED BECAUSE OF SUPPOSEDLY FAIR WORKING CONDITIONS).I live on the Texas-Mexico border and if not for Wal-Mart the town would not be what it is. Wal-Mart sells items that would normally be 150 miles away because of the remoteness of our town. Wal-Mart sales come from shoppers that live in Mexico, so that is foreign money coming in. Wal-Mart provides a lot of jobs to the citizens here. Talk about pay, Wal-Mart pays higher than the minimum wage. If you want more pay than get an education.You have to realize the movie is extremely one sided. Stop complaining and start a business that will compete with Wal-Mart.
kman-9 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.
Ivonz Zovko 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.