Robert Greenwald: American Hero

Earlier this week, I attended the premiere of Robert Greenwald’s new movie, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. You might recognize Robert’s name for some of his previous political films like Outfoxed and Uncovered. In the film, Robert interviews no politicians or talking heads, rather it’s all people who have been hurt by Wal-Mart or have tried to fight back. Robert also has some incredible interviews with former senior managers at Wal-Mart. The film is a blistering indictment of the corporation. What I have found most interesting is Wal-Mart’s reaction to the movie. On the same night that the movie premiered in New York, Wal-Mart held a press conference at the W Hotel defending themselves against the film’s accusations. A Wal-Mart consultant had to be removed from the premier in New York because they were attempting to secretly record the film. And now we learn that Wal-Mart has setup a “War Room” to deflect criticisms of the company. Talk about bringing a machine gun to a knife fight. Should we be surprised by this reaction? Of course not. Whenever the company sees any potential threat to their profits they go into full attack mode. Take the example of the Wal-Mart in Canada that unionized. Instead of working with the employees, they just shut the entire store down. No questions asked.

Wal-Mart is clearly on the defensive and senses their vulnerability. The more people learn about their greedy tactics, the more political pressure will be placed on them to reform their ways. Greenwald made this film on a shoestring budget, but the potential good it can do is priceless. Thank you Robert Greenwald, you did a great service to your country.


-- Joel Barkin

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