Lights, camera, advocacy!

You're not likely to be bored watching Robert Greenwald's documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (Brave New Films, 2005). You're more likely to be outraged, saddened or frustrated at Wal-Mart's brutal onslaught, which can make Sherman's march to the sea look kind and gentle. You might even be angered by the one-sided tone of the film, which doesn't give the company much screen time (except to look dumb in corporate videos and commercials). But there's no question that Greenwald (also the auteur behind Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004), has the goods on Wal-Mart, since the comprehensive documentary covers everything from the expansionist chain's indifference to environmental issues to its dangerous parking lots and poor treatment of workers (both in the U.S. and China). He misses the company's point of light: a flashy attention-getting sustainable store in Texas. This one-of-a-kind Wal-Mart features its own wind turbine, flushless urinals, heating with recycled cooking oil and energy-efficient refrigeration units.

Also from Brave New Films and Robert Greenwald (in the role of executive producer), is a new half-hour television series called Sierra Club Chronicles. Made in association with Sierra Club Productions, the monthly series is hosted by actor and eco-advocate Daryl Hannah. It appears on Link TV, which is an independent, nonprofit network broadcast on DirecTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel 9410. The first episode explores the struggles of 9-11 heroes who believe they were poisoned by the toxic conditions at Ground Zero. In the second episode, the filmmakers visit the troubled Alaskan fishing town of Cordova, which is still reeling from the Exxon Valdez disaster (see "Caught in a Net, Fifteen Years After Exxon Valdez," Features, July/August 2004).