E-Mail This Article to a Friend WAL-MART WAR ROOM New doc blasts big-box behemoth BY DEIRDRE FULTON

Wal-Mart is finally letting us see it sweat.

The corporate giant, which was recently shut out of Downtown Crossing, is on the defensive against a new documentary that blasts its record on everything from health-insurance policies (they’re too expensive) to parking-lot violence (it happens too often), and it’s pulling out all the stops on a PR campaign to salvage its reputation.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is the latest from director Robert Greenwald, whose previous film fulminations targeted the Bush administration (2003’s Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War) and Rupert Murdoch (2004’s Outfoxed). Here, he has collected damning testimony from former Wal-Mart workers and managers. Supervisors describe how they were instructed to cut workers’ overtime pay; one former employee relates how she was shot down for a promotion because of her gender and race. (When she asked her manager whether it was because she was a woman or she was black, she says he responded, "Well, two out of two ain’t bad.")

As the film gains ground (director Greenwald calls it a grassroots movement, with more than 7000 small screenings nationwide and only a few commercial openings), Wal-Mart officials are bristling enough to put out their own anti-Greenwald commercial, press kit, and statement. Last week, the New York Times described these public-relations efforts as a part of a Wal-Mart war room that’s become necessary as the company faces increased criticism from multiple fronts. (See "No Sympathy for the Devil," News and Features, October 14.)

"Let’s be clear about Mr. Greenwald’s intent," reads Wal-Mart’s attempt to discredit the filmmaker. "It is not to present a fair and accurate portrayal of Wal-Mart. It is a propaganda video — pure and simple — designed to advance a narrow special interest agenda.... We at Wal-Mart value our customers, our associates, and our communities. And we’ll continue to work hard to be a company that not only we can be proud of, but every customer and community we serve can be proud of too."

Greenwald’s production company, Brave New Films, has backed his refutations of Wal-Mart’s claims. With damning news stories about Wal-Mart’s policies regarding illegal workers and wages only adding to the fire, the big box’s war room will need more than eco-friendly plastic packaging (the switch was announced in October) to save its name.

Student groups at Boston University, Northeastern University, Simmons College, and neighborhood organizations around Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline, will be screening the documentary this week. Visit www.walmartmovie.com for exact dates and times.