Wal-Town the Film

Wal-Town was not a bad documentary at all, but it fell short of other titles with the same premise, such as "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices." The interesting aspect of the film was the activism angle, documenting the journey of six Canadian activists as they traveled across the country protesting at Wal-Mart stores.

The downside was that they seemed to assume that 9/10ths of success is just showing up, and I do give them credit for doing something positive. However, they seemed to have no rebuttal for many of the angry comments they were getting from customers and employees, despite their preparation shown early in the film where they were to come up with the 10 hardest questions they could expect and counter each one. For the most part, at least until their second tour and the inclusion of a member with better ideas, their efforts merely reinforced the fact that they really hadn't thought their action through properly.

All in all, I'd recommend this to those who want to see what a little time and effort can accomplish and those who consider themselves activists. The reason I recommend it isn't for inspiration though, but rather as an object lesson to learn from.

As an activist, I'm always interested to see how other activists operate. This film was made on the cheap, it's definitely grassroots, but that's not a problem. These guys make the same mistakes I've seen groups I was myself involved with make. The best thing for activists to do is be creative and effective. These activists realize this by the end after they first make a few mistakes. But they're still amateurs when it comes to debating the suits and corporate supporters. I would recommend "The High Cost of Low Price" over this documentary. it's more informative, but both are interesting. For the completely naive viewer who knows nothing about the evils of Wal-Mart this might be a good primer. If you already know the whole deal then this will just be preaching to the choir.