‘The Six Triple Eight’ Review: Kerry Washington Commands Tyler Perry’s Rousing World War II Drama for Netflix

You wouldn’t think that a true story about a World War II unit that specialized in sorting mail would prove to be particularly arresting. But add the facts that the unit in question, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, was the first and only Women’s Army Corp unit of color to serve overseas in WWII, and that, faced with the impossible task of sorting 17 million pieces of mail in six months, they managed to do it in less than three, and you have Tyler Perry’s inspiring The Six Triple Eight. Receiving a limited theatrical release before streaming on Netflix two weeks later, the film represents the latest in a seemingly endless series of little-known true-life tales plucked from history to powerful cinematic effect.

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Perry’s screenplay, based on Kevin M. Hymel’s 2019 article in WWII History Magazine, largely revolves around two real-life figures: Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian, BET’s Sistas), who served in the unit, and Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington), who led it. The former is first seen in Pennsylvania before the war, where she is conducting a risky friendship/romance (the film doesn’t go there) with Abram (Gregg Sulkin), a white boy. When he’s killed in the war not long after being shipped overseas, Lena impulsively enlists and is sent to a training camp in Georgia.

The social conditions are ugly, as demonstrated by a scene in which the Black women sit in the front of an army base movie theater and are ordered to the back by a white officer. But Adams, who rules her unit with impeccable military bearing, will have none of it. The main thing that frustrates her is not being allowed to serve overseas, so she’s thrilled when they’re suddenly ordered to Europe.

She’s less thrilled when she discovers that their mission is to sort the millions of pieces of mail — enough to fill numerous airplane hangars — that have been left languishing and undelivered, both to soldiers and their families at home. While at first it seems a relatively minor issue when it comes to conducting a war, it’s created a major morale problem, albeit one that the military feels is most suitably handled by female soldiers of color.

Eventually, the women come up with ingenious new methods to trace mail previously considered undeliverable and work tirelessly to fulfill their task. Along the way, they’re treated with condescension and racism by white soldiers and officers. At one point, Lena, still grieving Abram, becomes incensed by the dismissive way her co-workers treat the mail of deceased soldiers. And, in the sort of moment that presumably was invented for the film (apologies if that isn’t the case), an unsent letter from Abram to Lena is discovered, with predictably heart-tugging results.

This being a Tyler Perry movie, The Six Triple Eight isn’t particularly subtle in its emotional beats. And you can be sure that there are plenty of scenes featuring the women exuberantly jitterbugging, as if to remind us that we’re watching a WWII movie. The film also features awkward historical scenes involving Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (Sam Waterston and Susan Sarandon, the latter wearing a lot of makeup and buck teeth), including a meeting with civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune which provides an opportunity for Oprah Winfrey to make a distracting cameo.

But the real-life story ultimately exerts such emotional force that even when we know we’re being shamelessly manipulated — as with scenes depicting family members tearfully receiving mail from their loved ones overseas, Lena finding Abram’s grave among a sea of white crosses or a group of white soldiers seeming to confront the women of the 6888th, only to wind up saluting and applauding them — you can’t help but get choked up. Perry pulls the heartstrings shamelessly but expertly in a way that would make Frank Capra proud. By the end, we’re also given a typically emotive Diane Warren ballad, sung by H.E.R.

The performances, too, couldn’t be better. Obsidian delivers a warm, winning performance; Washington a thoroughly commanding one that subtly allows small beats of emotion to peek through; and the female supporting players hit nary a false note. At the conclusion, we’re treated to videos and photographs of the real-life figures, including footage of the unit arriving in Europe, an interview with Derriecott King at age 100 and a clip of Michelle Obama paying tribute to two of the surviving women from the unit. We also learn that Fort Gregg-Adams was co-named for Adams, the first ever to be named for a Black woman.

The Six Triple Eight relates a little-known story that fairly demanded to be told, and does it full justice.