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Critical documentary on Wal-Mart stirs Berlin fest

Posted on: Saturday, 11 February 2006, 12:50 CST

By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) - A documentary on the perils of runaway capitalism that spotlights Wal-Mart screened at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, and interest among European distributors and television networks has been strong.

The feature-length documentary focuses on working conditions at the U.S. retail giant and argues that the company treats its employees shabbily in pursuit of maximum profit.

"Wal-Mart is the poster child for the worst in corporate behavior," U.S. director Robert Greenwald said in an interview after his film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," screened to a large and appreciative audience.

"But it is not only Wal-Mart, it is these issues that affect all of us all around the world."

Wal-Mart, based in Betonville, Arkansas, has criticized the film by saying it is not an accurate portrayal of the company.

"Let's be clear about Mr. Greenwald's intent: it is not to present a fair and accurate portrayal of Wal-Mart," the retailer said in a statement last year.

"It is a propaganda video -- pure and simple -- designed to advance a narrow special interest agenda."

Greenwald's film, which has sold 110,000 DVDs since November and been shown in a limited theatrical release in the United States, was quickly snapped up by distributors in Britain, Germany and Australia.

The film, which Greenwald partly financed, portrays Wal-Mart Stores Inc as a monster that destroys the fabric of small towns by killing off small business with discount prices, and as a firm paying poverty-level wages without adequate health cover.

Greenwald, who said he tried unsuccessfully to interview Wal-Mart executives for his documentary, shows how Wal-Mart moved into two small towns in Ohio and Missouri, among other places, and how family-owned stores folded after its arrival.

"Wal-Mart is on a rampage across America but no one is doing anything about it," says hardware store worker John Faenza in the film. Greenwald reports that wages and property values fell when Wal-Mart came to town.

Images of boarded-up shops accompanied by haunting Bruce Springsteen songs deliver a powerful message about the excesses of capitalism, one which scares many Europeans.

"Wal-Mart is sucking down standards around the world," the narrator says. Greenwald includes interviews with ex Wal-Mart managers and employees detailing poor treatment of staff.

"Wal-Mart is abusive in ways that other corporations that are committed to profits are not," Greenwald told Reuters.

"They have a culture that says it's okay to do anything as long as it's good for profits. It's okay not to give employees health insurance. It's okay to take money away from communities to build Wal-Marts.

"I don't believe there is any other company that is as aggressively exploiting people as Wal-Mart."

Source: REUTERS

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