A racist general (Dean Norris) confronts the major running the all-woman, all-Black 6888th Battalion (Kerry Washington) in “The Six Triple Eight.”
NETFLIX
The generational impact and the enormous and enduring scale of World War II are such that almost eight decades after VJ Day, there are still “new” stories to tell in films, stories that went largely unnoticed at the time. time and have only given the impression in recent years.
Such is the case with writer-director Tyler Perry’s “The Six Triple Eight,” which pays tribute to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only Women’s Army Corp unit of color to serve overseas in World War II. About as far removed as he could be from the “Madea” shtick, Perry delivers a rousing and well-filmed story that doesn’t shy away from cornball aspects but soars on the wings of the inspirational true-life stories that wrote this important chapter in American history.
Based on a 2019 article in History magazine by Kevin M. Hymel, “The Six Triple Eight” faces a bit of storytelling challenge at its very core, as this is the story of the hundreds of brave and determined women who … sorted mail. Hardly the stuff of action-movie heroics, but in the scene-setting buildup, Perry does a fine job of outlining the vital nature of this task.
In 1945, front-line troops and their loved ones back home were going months and months without receiving mail, due to a backlog of some 17 million pieces of correspondence. With traditional supply lines exhausted to the breaking point with more urgent concerns, it’s left to the Six Triple Eight to train for and perform the seemingly impossible task of processing rows of warehouses and hangars filled with mail within six months.
Thanks to Perry’s sure-handed and straightforward direction and the performances by a first-rate cast led by Kerry Washington and Ebony Obsidian, with a number of star-power supporting performances helping to bear the load, “The Six Triple Eight” will remind you of “Hidden Figures,” another powerful film about Black women who had to overcome institutional racism and sexism as they performed an invaluable service that was vital to the course of 20th century American history. (Rather fittingly, “The Six Triple Eight” was filmed largely at Tyler Perry Studios — which was built on a former Army base outside Atlanta — with other scenes shot in England.)
Ebony Obsidian plays a teenage American soldier sent to England to eliminate the mail backlog.
Netflix
After a harrowing and emotional World War II series filmed with dark, bloodstained footage, we move on to a series of scenes in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, in 1942, where 17-year-old Lena Derriecott, a real-life character, played beautifully. through Ebony Obsidian, he is thankfully involved in a friendship bordering on romance with the handsome and frivolous Abram (Gregg Sulkin), a white Jewish boy, despite the disapproving looks and comments of the locals. Abram’s unbridled enthusiasm for becoming a fighter pilot makes it clear that he probably wouldn’t return home, and sure enough, he was shot down and killed shortly after being sent overseas.
Heartbroken, Lena joins the military “to fight Hitler,” but is sent to an educational base in Georgia where we meet a series of pivotal characters who will be Lena’s comrades in the 6888th Battalion, led by Major Charity Adams of Kerry. Washington (also a real-life character). Washington rocks the screen with his lively functionality as Major Adams, a formidable figure who speaks with passionate eloquence while clashing with the likes of Dean. Norris’s General Halt, a ferocious racist who goes to great lengths to protect the Triple Eight, failed when the battalion arrived in Birmingham, England, in February 1945 and was assigned the task of sorting those warehouses filled to the ceiling with bags. of mail.
Writer-director Perry can’t resist some cheesy tropes, for example Lena’s Noble Dead Boyfriend appearing from time to time to offer words of encouragement when she feels overwhelmed by the challenge ahead. There are also quite a few stunts that I quite enjoyed. seeing Oprah Winfrey as Mary McLeod Bethune, an iconic civil rights leader and educator, Sam Waterston as Franklin Roosevelt, and a nearly unrecognizable Susan Sarandon as Eleanor Roosevelt.
“The Six Triple Eight” also manages to make those mail sorting sequences engaging and cinematic, specifically in a scene in which General Hart inspects the operation and Major Adams explains some of the ingenious strategies the battalion has devised to uncover the origins and fates of the tattered letters. and then essentially tells the general what he can do with himself when he threatens to drop everything.
“The Six Triple Eight” is a Frank Capra-esque feel-good story about heroes who are no longer forgotten.
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