The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (Six Triple Eight), led by Major Charity Adams, was the only predominantly black US Women's Army Corps unit sent overseas during World War II. "No mail, low morale" was the motto of this group, and according to The Six Triple Eight, these Black female soldiers were better and more competent than all the White soldiers around them. Towards the end, while we watch the footage of the real 6888 Battalion, a text informs us that "they were given the impossible task of delivering 17 million pieces of mail in six months. They did it in less than 90 days." How remarkable! This is a story that needed to be told, especially given that the women received no public recognition for their service after their job was done, and even now, I am sure many people must be unaware of their work. It's good then that we now have a film about the 6888 soldiers on a platform that can ensure it reaches as many people as possible. The bad news, however, is that Tyler Perry has made this film. If, like me, you managed to sit through Mea Culpa and were turned off by its style, dialogues, aesthetics (basically everything), then watch The Six Triple Eight at your own risk.
With The Six Triple Eight, Perry shows that there has been no improvement in his filmmaking. You get an idea very quickly during the opening scene when the letters of the dead soldiers are read aloud in their voices (we also see their bodies). Perry doesn't trust these images to evoke a reaction from within the audience. He inserts the voices to make us more emotional - he likes to push our buttons. This is all Perry wants to do here. He wants the audience to cry or feel sad. He initially (and for the most part) puts the spotlight on Ebony Obsidian's Lena because there is heartbreak in her thread. Her boyfriend, Abram (Gregg Sulkin), joins the army to fight against Hitler. When Abram tells Lena to wait for him, you detect ominous signals. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't return. Cue more tears. Tyler's film is based on Kevin M. Hymel's magazine article, Fighting a Two-Front War, and it seems as if he read the piece and thought to himself, "Well, I can use this material to create a (pseudo) inspirational narrative that can also be a tearjerker."
The only thing Perry thinks is worth knowing about Lena is that she is grieving over Abram's death. Hitler snatches away her future husband, so the dictator becomes her enemy as well. Lena, too, joins the army and comes across Charity (Kerry Washington), the commanding officer. Charity wants to prove to her superiors that she and her team are ready to go for any mission, but her authority is undermined by all the White seniors. You know what this means, right? Perry gets more opportunities to trigger your emotions. The cartoonish White officers look down on Charity and other "negro women," and their hate is used as a cheap device to fill the audience with anger. The movie urges us to spit on these racist characters so that we can cheer for Charity - and Johnnie Mae (Shanice Shantay) - when they verbally attack the White villains. Racism, for Perry, turns out to be nothing more than an opportunity for emotional manipulation.
Perry always sees his characters from the outside. He attaches a one-line description to them instead of digging deep into their thoughts, hobbies, and interests. Does Charity miss anyone back at her home, or does she not have any family members? What motivated her to join the army? Johnnie briefly, casually talks about her ugly personal experiences but never about how those experiences changed or influenced her. She is nothing more than a woman with a foul mouth. Two other women - Lena's friends - exude kindness. The 6888 Battalion, alas, consists of uninteresting, unmemorable individuals. They are little more than a face in the crowd (some faces remain in your head because you know some of the actors). This is why you feel nothing when UXB claims the lives of two characters. Perry never clearly explains why the letters are not delivered to the intended recipients. General Halt (Dean Norris) talks about some vague complications. The director, in the end, wants to provide a simple, facile message: White people (or at least most of them) are awful and incompetent.
I wish I could say an actor like Washington rescues the film from crumbling into pieces. The truth is that everybody's performance is at such a high pitch - every speech, every gesture is so exaggerated - that the movie falls into a parody zone. Instead of feeling inspired by the onscreen events, you start laughing at scenes that don't want you to laugh. Slowly, however, you become bored and react with indifference. I wanted to talk to the women and tell them to channel their anger towards the director. More than the White Devils, it's Perry who disappoints them. He presents their hard work as a mere footnote and reduces them to bland stick figures.
Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times