Critic Reviews
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Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Advocacy journalism at its most unsparing, and it demands to be seen, discussed, argued with, and acted upon.
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Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price lacks the cinematic panache to elevate it above the level of agitprop. But its all too relevant dissection of its subject is well worth paying attention to.
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David Denby, New Yorker
For all its missteps, the movie powerfully suggests that Wal-Mart is capable of demoralizing a community so thoroughly that it doesn't have the spirit to carry on its life outside the big box.
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Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Wal-Mart says director Robert Greenwald's film is misleading and inaccurate, but it's hard to dispute the personal accounts from former Wal-Mart employees who speak from experience.
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John Anderson, Variety
Whatever Greenwald lacks in style he makes up for with a deluge of facts and figures and a populist feel that make his movies, this one included, accessible even to the most politically naive.
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Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Greenwald has shrewdly chosen not to go with classic talking head types like economists, academics and journalists. Instead he talked to current and former Wal-Mart employees, including several with a dozen or more years with the company.
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Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Embora irregular (as seqüências que se focam na China beiram o ridículo, com a dublagem e os apelidos dos entrevistados), o filme de Greenwald estabelece argumentos fortes que levam o espectador a desejar boicotar a empresa-título.
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Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
If Greenwald's intention was to make the audience very angry indeed then the film is a resounding success ... it'll definitely make you want to boycott Asda.
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John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews
Once again David slays Goliath in a documentary that has no pretense of being objective
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Shawn Levy, Oregonian
It's a bill of indictment, really, more than an objective survey. Greenwald often makes his arguments with a kind of prosecutorial zeal that makes you chary of swallowing it whole.
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A searing expose of the greed and systemic poor treatment of its workers by the largest corporation in the world.
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Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
If you think you already know all about how evil and rapacious America's largest retailer is, wait 'til you see this latest exercise in muckraking from Robert Greenwald...
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Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
The information in the film is largely anecdotal and not analytical. This is what gives the film its power.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Effective muckraking documentary.
Read all 14 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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Documentary about the business practices of Wal Mart is an eye opening film that tells the behind the scenes story of what really happens. Everyone shops at Wal Mart; they are the biggest chain store in the world. This is a compelling documentary that explores an important topic. In… More
Documentary about the business practices of Wal Mart is an eye opening film that tells the behind the scenes story of what really happens. Everyone shops at Wal Mart; they are the biggest chain store in the world. This is a compelling documentary that explores an important topic. In many ways, we all know how Wal Mart operates, and it is very unfair and immoral. However, the store chain has such a grasp on our culture, which it is hard to boycott when it is the only store in a small town. I really don't approve of their methods, but I guess big corporations can easily get away with it because they have a major foothold in retail sales. This is a must see documentary and it is also an important one. Watching this film you realize that big companies like Wal Mart can get away with so much because they make huge profits. The film examines what the company does to small businesses, their employees and the environment. Despite its importance, I don't believe that the film will do anything to really make an impact on consumers. But for me, I was stunned at what I watched and thought that this is worth seeing. Wal Mart should definitely change their policies as they are one of the leading chain stores in the world, and many other companies are sure to use the same practices. Overall this is a shocking documentary and it is an eye opening film that definitely uncovers some truths that the company will surely find hard to reply to. With a film like this, the company should definitely have revised what they do in terms of business practices to protect at least some form of integrity. However, they only care about profits and don't care about the cost of what the company do to communities and people in general.
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It is one of my sources of happiness to say that: I dont know Wal-Mart, neither do I take one sided Documentaries serious. What this Documentary shows, it is not a secret those many 'chain stores and every second little store around the corner do it already since before the… More
It is one of my sources of happiness to say that: I dont know Wal-Mart, neither do I take one sided Documentaries serious. What this Documentary shows, it is not a secret those many 'chain stores and every second little store around the corner do it already since before the Wal-Mart. I think these kind of Documentary confuse people and just cause headache.
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Ok, everyone already knows that Wal-mart and Wal-mart like stores are sucking the blood of the country. This film brings up lots of good points, but really they are just attacking the big name of an already established system that sucks. It's called 'chain stores'.… More
Ok, everyone already knows that Wal-mart and Wal-mart like stores are sucking the blood of the country. This film brings up lots of good points, but really they are just attacking the big name of an already established system that sucks. It's called 'chain stores'. Everybody pays people in China pennies to make our crap, even small buisnesses. A friend of mine makes board games, turns hardly any profit, but still has them made in China. Does it suck? Yes. Also, I like how they play up that nobody gets paid anything to work there. It's called minimum wage, and believe me you can get that same low pay in just about any place you work at these days. And the health insurance is unaffordable in all those places too. My wife and I have college degrees and still get paid minimum wage with no health benifits. And yes, Wal-mart has lots of crime in its parking lots, but that's because there are tons of wal marts in the world and that increases the odds of crime happening in them. Hell, somebody shot someone inside the Fred Meyer down the street from where I live. I hate to shop at wal-mart. I often wonder where these 'low prices' they talk about are at, because it costs the same as everywhere else that I've seen. Truth is, nothing is more ugly than traveling across country and seeing that in every town you stop in, all the buisnesses are exactly the same: Chilis, FedEx, Papa's Pizza, Taco Bell, etc etc. There is no place for the Ma and Pop stores anymore, which super sucks because it's helping to replace buisness owners with low paid workers. STILL. This documentary is totally one sided which I hate in any documentary, even when they are right. What they didn't do is discus how the only real way that Wal-mart is flurishing is because the people in these communities shop there in the first place. So whose fault is it? Morons that shop there. They're just another animal filling a nitch to survive.
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It's excellent at getting it's point across. However, this is mostly hateful propaganda, that is simply the opposite of Wal-Mart's own lovey-dovey advertisements. It raises some excellent points, but seems to go off like some mad old man towards the end. Wal-Mart have… More
It's excellent at getting it's point across. However, this is mostly hateful propaganda, that is simply the opposite of Wal-Mart's own lovey-dovey advertisements. It raises some excellent points, but seems to go off like some mad old man towards the end. Wal-Mart have such hate aimed against them that in the segment on crime outside their stores it seems as though Wal-Mart are the ones committing the offenses. The film also doesn't have the balls to attack Wal-Mart customers. It shows at the very end how communities can oppose the construction of a store, but what about these communities where local stores die out? It's a lot easier to turn people against a huge company rather than themselves.
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It's not a particularly bad documentary, but I don't feel like I learned anything from it. I knew Wal-mart did these so-called "controversial practcies" already.
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This is one of those documentaries that will make you angry. It's a hard film to watch because it would appear that Walmart doesn't have an ethical bone in its slick, hypothetical corporate body. Counting the ways in which it exploits everyone and everything does get a… More
This is one of those documentaries that will make you angry. It's a hard film to watch because it would appear that Walmart doesn't have an ethical bone in its slick, hypothetical corporate body. Counting the ways in which it exploits everyone and everything does get a little tiresome, but it is nice to know that the filmmakers seem to have hope.
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Eye-opening film. I no longer shop at Wal-Mart.
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I never went to Wal-Mart before and this solidified my boycott.
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Statistically speaking, Wal-Mart is worse than cancer and I actually like Tony Danza and Jim Varney better than Wal-Mart, but this was a ridiculously over the top propaganda film. The High Cost of Low Price nitpicks every little thing about the company--and for as much as I loathe… More
Statistically speaking, Wal-Mart is worse than cancer and I actually like Tony Danza and Jim Varney better than Wal-Mart, but this was a ridiculously over the top propaganda film. The High Cost of Low Price nitpicks every little thing about the company--and for as much as I loathe said company I just don't think this documentary is entirely fair. (Like no one gets stabbed or kidnapped out of any other store's parking lot.) It's very intelligent as it bends facts and circumstance while it knows exactly who its audience is--right wing Christians. In its defense, I did miss the first 15 minutes but I got the jist within the first 2 minutes I caught.
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This was the perfect mix of factual information along with touching human interest stories. An incredibly moving documentary, that simply tells its story through the perspectives of people affected by Wal-Mart. Must watch material.
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absolutely mind bottling, yes bottling. so now I have the serious debate on do I still go there. My head says no way but my wallet says ya life is tough all over but low low prices is what I need. I'm from a small town and I understand the mom and pop business situation all to… More
absolutely mind bottling, yes bottling. so now I have the serious debate on do I still go there. My head says no way but my wallet says ya life is tough all over but low low prices is what I need. I'm from a small town and I understand the mom and pop business situation all to well. The thing that i'm wondering is can a corp like wal-mart even be stopped. I'm sure like world banking there are alot of top tier people involved that wouldn't let it be shut down or de-regulated. It's a sad situation but to tell you the truth mankind has been doing this since the beginning of time. The stronger element will almost always win. Kings and queens did the same thing, i give you protection and you live on my land and produce for me and you get nothing but what i decide to give you, you don't like it then go somewhere else.
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Read all 12 featured audience ratings
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