Customer Reviews

Why Wal*Mart Works and why this makes some people C-R-A-Z-Y!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

This film pulls together all of the arguments in favor of wal-mart. There is also a very interesting conclusion on the undeniable good work that the company did in summer 2005 in the Katrina-ravaged regions. However, none of the legitimate concerns of critics are given any thoughtful review. I say this as a concerned conservative, who wants to understand the enormous changes occuring in my country, and not a liberal.

On the plus side, it is hard to argue against the business model of wal-mart: it offers everyday low prices, which the company accomplishes by incredible and continual productivity gains - by some measures wal-mart is responsible for 25% of the productivity gains in the US due to its use of new technologies! - as well as vast scale economies in particular with globalisation. Regardless of what critics say, these factors are the basis of the company's success: consumers chose to buy there because of the prices and convenience.

However, this is the point when the film becomes disingenuous. Anything that critics say is summarily dismissed by either a single and simplistic example, by some self-appoined talking head, by employees who like their jobs, or simply by people passing by on the street. I found this pathetically unconvincing. For example, because wal-mart is criticised as a destructive force against traditional town centers, the filmmakers find one town that was able to renew itself as a tourist spot with boutiquie stores and then assumes that that can happen everywhere (but the site was in the Blue Mountains, not in the Oklahoma dustbowl). No statistics are offered, no additional proof, and no counter-arguments are acknowledged.

Moreover, it is easy to find people to spout the opinion you want to espouse by looking for them - to be sure, wal-mart critics do the same, but there are some critics who act like journalists and try to see what truth there is in the arguments advanced. This film does not. At one point, the filmakers interview a group of teenagers who state wal-mart wages would "enough" for them (none of them work there), as if that refutes the experience of single mothers trying to make ends meet on wal-mart salaries! They also get a few people to state that they never get asked to work overtime wothout pay as if that eliminates the need to investigate the claims of thousands of others who are winning multi-million dollar class-action lawsuits against that practice in their wal-marts.

Finally, some of the talking heads make the most ridiculous arguments. One of them dismissed all the arguments of critics who charge that wal-mart urges its workers to use the welfare system as "those who advocate government health care anyway" - as if that negates their arguments! By glossing over the details, they don't even make the case in favor of the wal-mart business model all that well, let alone consider how the intallation of a wal-mart impacts entire communities.

As such, this film is for the convinced, for those who want to have their opinions reinforced rather than challenged. That makes it like Fox news at its worst: you know what you are going to get before you switch it on - pure opinion and little reporting - so why bother? It isn't for learning. The costs behind wal-mart's methods are not even open to question. The one thing I took away from this is the sincerity of some of the employees, who genuinely believed in the company.

Overall, I cannot recommend this film, except as a pure ideological view in favor of this controversial company. This doesn't do anyone any good - there is no chance for dialogue in this approach, no acknowledgment that critics can make legitimate points. Whether powerful companies like it or not, they do not automatically deserve our trust, but instead our critical and constant scrutiny.

The film I bought at a retail outlet in Spokane WA contains no closed captions! If I had known that, I wouldn't have bought it. The box should have contained a clear message: No Closed Captions! (Parenthetically, Amazon.com's description indicates the film IS Closed Captioned.)

The content of the film is shallow, and it doesn't really address the issues raised in the more fully supported Greenwald film, Walmart, the High Cost of Low Price.

If closed captions are not an issue, however, buy (or rent) *both* films to draw your own conclusion. Obviously, the truth about Walmart's impact on US cities and third world communities is somewhere between the images presented in these two films. I found the Greenwald film much more convincing.

First, please note that Robert J. Crawford's review gives an accurate and detailed assessment of this film, so I'll keep my own review brief.

As Robert and others have pointed out, this film's takes what promised to be an interesting look at one of the major economic forces of the past decade and sugar coats it until there's no flavor left. Enough said.

Well, except this. One should be careful to distinguish between a film review (which this is) and a corporate review (which this is not). I've no issue with shopping at Wal-Mart, and am rather interested in seeing how we as a nation and as a species respond to Wal-Mart's effects on our economies and our cultures. At the same time "Why Wal-Mart Works" neither enlightens nor entertains. In fact, it would probably be a better use of your time to visit a Wal-Mart than to watch this movie.

Therefore my summary recommendation: take the 72 minutes you would have spent on the couch with this movie and do something inspiring with the extra hour+ you've just gained!

What a world we live in where propaganda is no longer used to support governnments but corporations. After 30 minutes of this tripe I felt ill. Any serious person with an understanding of democracy and modern business practice will reject this heavy handed corporate propaganda.

And no, it wasn't sponsored by WalMart. The Galloways paid the 85 grand for it themselves. That being said, the film was only concerned with WalMart from an economic standpoint. Do they pay wages that are competitive with other big box retailers like Target? Sure. Do they offer health insurance. Sure, to their full time employees. Most WalMart employees aren't full time, so that is a bit of trickery. The documentary failed to address the bleeding of manufacturing jobs to China, and the domino effect that has. WalMart was largely responsible for killing Pillowtex, and that cost lots of jobs. Nor did the filmmakers address the environmental armageddon which is going on in China because of the massive increase in manufacturing, largely to support WalMart. Is the corporation evil? No. Do they have serious problems with PR. Yes. I do occasionally shop at WalMart, our local supercenter. I find it to be a depressing, soul-killing exercise in monotony. The entire experience is designed to reduce you to a cipher, a consuming machine. It's disturbing.

The answer to the title question in the Galloway Brothers new film about Wal-Mart should be obvious to anyone who has ever shopped in one of their stores. Wal-Mart "works" because they offer quality products at "always low prices." Many consumers vote with their pocketbooks, and this fact has quietly helped build Wal-Mart into a retail giant. The second part of the title, "Why That Makes Some People Crazy" is less obvious in this video than in the "anti-Walmart" program from Robert Greenwald. To be fair, it's not reasonable to expect that Wal-Mart or any other major chain is likely to be the nation's leader in every category of benefits and treatment for their employees and suppliers. Galloway's film does point out some interesting statistics showing that Wal-Mart's wages dramatically outpace most retail chains and that their benefits package ranks among the nation's best. Unlike the thesis of the Greenwald film (which implies that the Wal-Mart prices are obtained through salary and benefits abuse of their employees), the Galloway's demonstrate how Wal-Mart has reinvented supply and fulfillment efficiencies to dramatically cut the costs of getting goods onto the shelves. The biggest criticism that Galloway lobs at Wal-Mart is an observation that they have not been "good at telling their story" to American consumers, and as such, are susceptible to baseless attacks from special interest groups. Other major retailers such as Target, K-Mart, Krogers, Best Buys, Sears and many others fulfill consumer needs much in the same way that Wal-Mart works, and often in other ways that some consumers prefer. In the recent past, K-Mart was the nation's top retailer, and before them, Sears was the big guy on the block. Today it's Wal-Mart, and they seem to be discovering that being # 1 means being a more visible target for attacks.

Production values on this video reflect the micro-budget of the project. But the sincerity that comes across from Wal-Mart employees and customers in Galloway's film is far more appealing to watch than the propaganda that Greenwald admits to presenting in his "anti-Walmart" video. Check it out. Heck, watch both videos and make up your own mind!

This is obviously a propaganda piece designed to counter Robert Greenwald's, 'Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,' and nothing more. Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world, they are responsible for over 20% of China's gross-national-product for 2004 (as in sending YOUR money overseas to a country with countless human rights issues), they strip-mine profits from small-town America-putting many mom and pop stores out of business. Wal-Mart is ruining the United States, period. Don't let this fluff fool you.

This documentary is poorly produced, has terrible sound quality and stereotypical "life affirming" stories. There was nothing in here to support Wal-Mart, their business practices or their philosophy.

This movie stinks! How can anybody promote this crap of a business. The same people whose jobs are being lost and whose small towns are being abandoned because of Wal-Mart are also voting republican and watching Fox News. All this because of fear, gays, guns and the bible. A documentary should be made about ethical businesses like Cost-Co, In-N-Out Burger, American Apparrel and Patagonia...these companies pay good wages and our socially conscious. Cost-Co was in fact criticized by Fox News for not being more "considerate" about their shareholders...that says it all about Fox and the GOP. Yes! I believe Capitalism can work for everyone including the environment when done with compassion and not by greedy social darwinists.

I hate the fact that I shop at Wal-Mart. But they offer the lowest prices and I need to save every penny I have living in this horrible economy where the rich get all the tax breaks and I'm left with nothing. Wal-Mart makes up for it's low prices by giving their employees a low pay check and having tax payers pay for their medical. My neighbor works and Wal-Mart. She does it because she has no place else to go. And she has a child she has to support so if she loses her job she will be in a very bad situation. Wal-Mart is a horrible horrible cancer on this world and one day it's going to kill us all.

Oh, and Wal-Mart stores are total dumps. With the amount of money the company has you'd think they could pay a few extra people some money to clean the place up. But we all know why they don't, don't we? Because that would mean Wal-Mart paying for more employees when they know they can just force the ones they got into working overtime without pay.