Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Sometimes, a film garners merit not for the quality of storytelling, or how escapist it is, but by the importance of its message. This was going to be a review of Phantasm, but I'm towards the end of a film that appalled me so much, that I have to tell every person I know about it. This is a review of Wal-Mart:The High Cost of Low Prices.
Wal-Mart's first official store opened in 1962, and it has proceeded to become a true juggernaut, today grossing $315+ billion dollors in revenue, and employing 1.5 million employees. The company has however come under fire for such problems as not providing health care to its employees, inadequate safety measures in the parking lots, sexist and racist treatment of its employees, multiple violations of environmental laws, excessive store growth, sub-substandard wages for company employees, terrible pay and deplorable living conditions for overseas factory workers, and the negative impact it has on surrounding businesses. Whew! Did I forget anything? As of yet, Wal-Mart hasn't been found guilty of taking candy from babies (not literally, anyway), or raping people's pets. But give it time.
Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is a documentary in a very simple style. There is no narration, and the director doesn't make his presence known. The story and the facts are told by people interviewed, footage from news stories and other sources, internal memos, and statistics. The tone is quiet, and a welcome respite from flashy Michael Moore style documentary storytelling. We hear about, and see, how 47% of Wal-Mart employees are without health insurance. About how Bill Gates has given 58% of his fortune to charity, and the Walton family (officially the richest family in the world) has given less than 1% of theirs. And so on. We talk to families whose businesses have been put out of business by Wal-Mart, while the city gave Wal-Mart generous stipends to get started in the area. To factory workers in China, who make less than $21 a week. To friends of a young woman who abducted from a Wal-Mart parking lot and later murdered. We are told that Wal-Mart has been fined by the EPA more than any other company in history.
I promised myself that I wouldn't use this forum as a soapbox, but I feel strongly about the problems talked about in this film, and felt even stronger about them after watching it. I feel that Wal-Mart is bad for every man, woman, and child in America. For every dog, cat, and blade of grass. This is important, important stuff that the films talks about, and everybody can benefit from it. The injustices this film discusses made me feel sick and disgusted.
But it's not all doom and gloom here. The last bit of the film focuses on Inglewood, CA, as they (successfully) fight Wal-Mart from entering their community, and touch upon other communities that go through the same thing.
I give Wal-Mart:The High Cost of Low Price a 10 of out 22 for film/quality value, and an 18 out of 22 for the social and civic responsibility it shows by tackling this subject. I urge everybody reading this review to see this film, and to tell everybody you know about it.