“The Six Triple Eight” Review

Tyler Perry is a name closely associated with melodramas that range from light comedy to trashy thriller. That tone is still present in The Six Triple Eight, a true story of black women serving during World War II. It’s a story that feels important and deserves something more than the soft approach it’s been given in this film. A movie with a good message has to be a good movie first, and this film is presented with all the stumbling grace of a community theater production.

Taking place during the war, the film centers on the training and service of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The battalion comprises such plucky figures as Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian), facing scrutiny before she even enlists with her white Jewish boyfriend Abram David (Gregg Sulkin). Paired up with plenty of average black women enduring the casual nature of racism, they’re placed under the command of the strict Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington). Adams stresses that these black women will have to prove themselves to be stronger than their white peers, urging them to hold fists when the racial slurs fly.

Perry’s direction with this story is severely scattershot. Within the first few minutes, the story darts around the 1940s, as though the film can’t wait to show you an exciting war scene. But even when the film finally settles into a groove, it never really mixes together the stories of the women all that well. Lena faces the pains of grief while Adams faces down the white military officers who look down on her unit, including a blustering Dean Norris playing General Halt. Enough is going on in this film, as the women are given the noble duty of mail delivery and are taken seriously for the war effort. But it never feels like the film is building on its characters and merely presenting a handful of scenes for these young actresses to make a meal out of this script.

There are the best intentions present in this film and all the wrong maneuvers to bring it to life. So many passages in the film are presented as corny speeches of nobility that they could almost pass for comedy with how the movie favors the soft soundtrack and lighting. Nearly every scene is presented in a manner that feels like it must be the most important moment in this story and should be projected hard (especially by Kerry Washington as the stand-out of this ensemble). In the desperate attempt to make every scene strong, none of them end up being important.

Everything about this film just screams of being a TV special and not a theatrical movie. Consider how the film weaves Susan Sarandon, Sam Waterston, and Oprah Winfrey, all occupying the screen as Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR, and Mary McLeod Bethune respectively. They are presented in such a golden light with their spotlight moments that my mind drew to how the TV commercials would stage such a special. You can practically imagine the giant credits of Susan Sarandon and Oprah Winfrey wiping across the screen, falsely advertising them as key players when they’re only brief cameos. Adding to that TV special sensation are the ugly visual effects for the war scenes, sappy displays of characters being haunted by ghosts, and displays of racism so basic and easy-to-read that they can easily be shouted down by one powerful speech.

The Six Triple Eight never takes off with its inspiring military story, constantly hindered by Tyer Perry’s lacking direction. The film’s most interesting part was the epilogue, in which the real-life women of the battalion were presented before the camera. They deserved better than the bigotry they faced and they certainly deserved a better movie than this soapy drama.