Susan Granger’s review of “The Six Triple Eight” (Netflix)
Like “Hidden Figures,” the 2016 film that heralded unsung Black female NASA mathematicians, “The Six Triple Eight” tells the true story of first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to serve overseas in World War II.
Led by 26 year-old Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington), their mission was not only important but seemingly impossible: the 855 Black women were given just six months to sift through 17 million pieces of undelivered letters – to soldiers and from them – which had been dumped in canvas bags stored in numerous airplane hangars in Glasgow, Scotland.
“No mail, low morale” was their mantra.
Their tale is told through the eyes of Pvt. Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian), a spirited Pennsylvania teenager who impulsively enlists in 1943 soon after her high-school boyfriend Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), a pilot, is killed in combat.
At that time, Black troops – both male and female – were segregated at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and the women were shown little or no respect by the Caucasian officers – until activist/educator Mary McLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey) sought help from formidable First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Susan Sarandon).
Even then, after they were shipped overseas in 1945, the Black WACs were given no training and decrepit facilities in which to live and work. Their ruthlessly condescending Commanding Officer, General Halt (Dean Norris), is openly racist.
Nevertheless, utilizing inventive ways of sorting/identifying the backlog of mail, they got the job done in fewer than three months and proudly became known the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
Helmed and co-written by Tyler Perry, who adapted it from historian Kevin Hymel’s 2019 article in WW II History Magazine, it’s compelling despite Perry’s pedantic dialogue and shamelessly manipulative direction, leading to the actors’ somewhat stiff, stilted performances.
During the end-credits, there are archival glimpses of the real-life WACs, including footage of Michelle Obama paying tribute to two of the survivors and acknowledgment that Fort Gregg-Adams was named for Charity Adams.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Six Triple Eight” is an inspirational, historically significant 7, streaming on Netflix.
