Wal-Mart Continues To Suck
By Erik KirschbaumSat Feb 11, 12:54 PM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A documentary on the perils of runaway capitalism that spotlights Wal-Mart screened at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, and interest among European distributors and television networks has been strong. The feature-length documentary focuses on working conditions at the U.S. retail giant and argues that the company treats its employees shabbily in pursuit of maximum profit.
Wal-Mart is the poster child for the worst in corporate behavior," U.S. director Robert Greenwald said in an interview after his film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," screened to a large and appreciative audience. "But it is not only Wal-Mart, it is these issues that affect all of us all around the world."
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The film, which Greenwald partly financed, portrays Wal-Mart Stores Inc as a monster that destroys the fabric of small towns by killing off small business with discount prices, and as a firm paying poverty-level wages without adequate health cover.
Greenwald, who said he tried unsuccessfully to interview Wal-Mart executives for his documentary, shows how Wal-Mart moved into two small towns in Ohio and Missouri, among other places, and how family-owned stores folded after its arrival.
"Wal-Mart is on a rampage across America but no one is doing anything about it," says hardware store worker John Faenza in the film. Greenwald reports that wages and property values fell when Wal-Mart came to town.
Images of boarded-up shops accompanied by haunting Bruce Springsteen songs deliver a powerful message about the excesses of capitalism, one which scares many Europeans.
"Wal-Mart is sucking down standards around the world," the narrator says. Greenwald includes interviews with ex Wal-Mart managers and employees detailing poor treatment of staff.
posted by jimboses @ 9:00 AM
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