Rhode Island Secretary of State Matt Brown, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, hosted a screening of Robert Greenwald's documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of a Low Price" Sunday night in Smith-Buonanno 106. Brown said he hoped the movie "makes (viewers) angry and that (they) act on it."
The feature-length documentary addresses the reasons Wal-Mart is able to offer products at such low prices.
Brown said he showed the film to raise awareness about Wal-Mart's business practices. "Their practices are bad for workers, they're bad for small businesses and they're bad for the environment. People need to know that Wal-Mart isn't playing fair," Brown said.
The documentary begins by showing a large conference at which Wal-Mart is depicted as an excellent corporation. An executive states that Wal-Mart practices "good citizenship as a good employer."
The scene then cuts to H&H Hardware, a small family-owned business in Middlefield, Ohio. Don Hunter opened the family store in 1962, but 43 years later his son was forced to close it after a Wal-Mart moved into the area.
The film goes on to say that Wal-Mart causes property values to drop in areas where stores are opened due to a decrease in competition and an increase in empty buildings. To support the idea that Wal-Mart ruins communities, the film shows someone saying, "You can't buy small town (life) at Wal-Mart, they don't sell it. But once they steal it from you, you can't get it back."
According to the documentary, the company drives down retail wages by $3 billion every year. While in commercials the company appears to promote families and American values, the documentary claims there are employees working at Wal-Mart full-time who cannot afford to support their families due to the low wages they receive.
Some families are also unable to provide health insurance for their families because the coverage offered by Wal-Mart is too costly. As a result, taxpayers collectively pay over $1.5 billion because of Wal-Mart employees who have to rely on state health insurance, according to the film.
This contradiction between appearance and reality is one of the things that Brown said motivated him to show the film. Brown said Wal-Mart is directly contrary to American ideals, and that the first step to fixing this problem is to expose it.
The film also criticizes Wal-Mart for its anti-union practices and for discriminating against employees.
Wal-Mart's abuses go beyond the U.S. border. Poor factory conditions in China and Bangladesh persist as Wal-Mart continues to profit, according to the film.
Many towns across the nation are joining the campaign to stop Wal-Marts from opening in their communities. One woman in the film stands under her American flag and says that it represents "our right to fight Wal-Mart."
Brown said that stopping Wal-Marts from coming to towns is not enough and encouraged everyone, including students, to "sign up and get involved in efforts to stop unfair business practices."
"I like that it's sort of home-grown. It's very 'good old America,' " said Dan Caroselli '06, who attended the screening. He added that the film "will appeal to the people it needs to appeal to."
There will be another screening of the documentary at 7 p.m. Tuesday in List 120.
