The Six Triple Eight, officially known as the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, was the only all-black, all-woman unit of the United States army to serve in Europe during the second World War. In 1945 the unit was assigned to sort through 17 million pieces of mail piled up in warehouses across Europe. Operating under the motto “No mail, low morale”, they cleared the British backlog in three months, before addressing backlogs in Rouen and Paris with similar efficiency.
A monument was erected to honour the 855-strong battalion at Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas, in 2019. In 2022 the unit was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. This new drama from the film-maker, playwright, actor, producer and movie mogul Tyler Perry offers another belated tribute.
Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington) spends months lobbying her indifferent superiors to find a suitable assignment for the women under her charge. Sorting letters feels like a menial task. Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian), a Philadelphia recruit, disagrees. Having lost her white, Jewish high-school sweetheart, Abram (Gregg Sulkin), without receiving any of his letters, she stresses the importance of sending letters “back home”.
The scale of the task is daunting, and naysayers, including General Halt (Dean Norris), work to sabotage the women. The Six Triple Eight respond ingeniously; they even find ways to work around rat-eaten envelopes.
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The Six Triple Eight: Stirring tribute to the only black women’s unit to serve in Europe during the second World War
For all his credits, Perry remains best known for his broad Madea comedies. His script, adapted from Fighting a Two-Front War, an article in WWII History Magazine by Kevin Hymel, is seldom subtle.
The cameoing celebrities Sam Waterston (as Franklin Roosevelt), Susan Sarandon (Eleanor Roosevelt) and Oprah Winfrey (Mary McLeod Bethune) nod sagely as they discuss the postal blockade. Washington almost barks her way into a court martial as she stands up to the racist general. Lena sobs over Abram’s grave, having (coincidentally) found herself in the general vicinity.
Impressive war tableaux, including a high-octane battle sequence and a rousing depiction of the unit marching through the cold in Glasgow, act as a salve for the on-the-nose dialogue. Aaron Zigman’s soaring score carries the film to a teary finale.
The Six Triple Eight is on Netflix from Friday, December 20th
