Tyler Perry has carved out quite an empire for himself in Atlanta, Georgia. He has his own studio and makes films and television shows there. He became famous for his character of Madea which is an old black woman modeled after his grandmother. Since the popularity of these films, he’s branched out into doing other genres of movies like thrillers, action films, and period-piece movies. His latest is The Six Triple Eight. About an all-Black women’s brigade during WWII.

Lena Derricott (Ebony Obsidian) is a young woman who is in love with a Jewish boy Abrams (Gregg Sulkin) on the outskirts of Philadelphia in the 1940s. As you’d imagine they are too accepted by their fellow high school students or their parents for that matter. When Abrams doesn’t write or come back from war Lena decides to join the Army as a member of the Woman Army Corps. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into as she struggles to get acclimated to the regimented lifestyle, her fellow recruits, and the tough and overbearing Captain Charity Adams (Kerry Washington).

One of my favorite things about film is you learn things you don’t already know. With WWII there are a lot of stories that have been told, but there are still many more that haven’t been told. This story depicted in the film was a new one to me, but once I saw it I was instantly taken aback by the treatment these women endured at the hands of their superior officers, the conditions in which they had to do their jobs, and the lack of respect they received. They had six months to do the job and that was supposed to be not enough time given the task they had at hand. To sort and deliver 17 million pieces of mail. It was a huge undertaking, but they did it in 90 days. They eventually got the respect of their fellow soldiers,  but not of America as a whole.

Perry has established himself in Hollywood so he attracts a lot of actors to his film projects. That is no different here as he has a good cast of relative newcomers and veterans of the business. The other members of the Women’s Army Corps brigade during basic training are Johnnie Mae (Dhanice Williams, a brash foul-mouthed lady, Delores Washington (Sarah Jeffery) a Mexican-Black mix who gets misrepresented as white because of her complexion, Bernice Baker (Kylie Jefferson) Elaine White (Pepi Sonuga) two other woman who befriend Lena and work well with the overall group of women working on the Mail. 

Dean Nortis is famous for his role in Breaking Bad, but he’s coming off of another Netflix original film Carry-On opposite Taron Edgerton. He is totally different in this role. He plays a mean General Hait who doesn’t want the woman or think they can do the job. He is a bigot for lack of a better word. There is quite a cast in this film and I’d be here all day if I had to talk about them all, but in two smaller roles, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Oprah Winfrey as Mary McLoud Bethune and Susan Sarandon in pretty good makeup prosthetics as Eleanor Roosevelt. They are very good with very little screen time. 

Part of the film I enjoyed was the soundtrack. Songs like Ella Fitzgerald’s “Air Mail Special” was used in a key moment of the movie that made me cheer. The Journey from Oscar-nominated writer Diane Warren was sung by Her during the credits but is a fantastic song and I’m sure will garner more Oscar buzz for Warren. Also another song “Sort It Out” from Pharrell Williams and was performed by the Clark Sisters was used as part of the soundtrack and it was very appropriate for this story. The music made complete sense in the context of the film. I quite enjoyed it. 

Kerry Washington is an actress who’s had quite a career. She’s been in all kinds of films. She has been the blind girlfriend of Ben Grimm in the Fantastic Four Films, she’s played one of Ray Charles’ wives in Ray, she’s Been a Professor in a Magical School and she’s also been the wife of a dictator in The Last King of Scotland. She’s done it all in her career, but something gave me the sense that the role of Captain/Major Charity Adams was an important one for her. She seems to have taken it very seriously and a few scenes with long monologues show that very evidently.  I was very impressed by her in this role. Thinking of the content of the character I can see why she took it so seriously. She is fantastic as this tough no-nonsense woman. 

I’m a sucker for good war-based films, especially WWII. There are so many stories that haven’t been told about this war. The story of The Six Triple Eight was one such. I was instantly invested in the characters and their plight. Their motivations and reasoning for doing things they did. The entire cast was good, but the standout was Washington as the leader of this group of under-represented women.  She was terrific in the role. The music was good and the story was very good. I think Netflix will have a hit when it premiers on December 20th. It’ll have great meaning for many women of under-represented groups.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen