The Six Triple Eight

 

     Written and directed by Tyler Perry, this untold, true story of World War Two tells the story of a a very different kind of battle. It is the true story of an all black women battalion, who's job was to sort and make sure, millions of pieces of correspondence were delivered to soldiers fighting all over Europe.

      A film about sorting and delivering mail doesn't sound very interesting but credit Mr. Perry for finding the emotional core of what was an almost impossible task for anyone, let alone a battalion of black women that white, bigoted officers were convinced would fail.

      The film stars Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams and she gives a powerful performance. Her foil is the racist General Halt, played by a sneering Dean Norris. Milauna Jackson plays Captain Noel Campbell. Shanice Shantay plays Johnnie Mae Burton and Sarah Jeffery plays Dolores Washington. Sam Waterston, Oprah Winfrey, and Susan Sarandon all have cameos. The emotional center of the film, however, comes from Ebony Obsidian as Lena Derriecot, who enlists to "fight Hitler". We follow her struggle from bootcamp to the mail assignment and Ms. Obsidian is a young talent whose star is sure to rise after this film.

       It's actually a pretty exciting story as the women race the clock (they are given 90 days to sort millions of letters and parcels) to complete their assignment and given it's true nature, it's an incredibly inspiring story as well.

       This is a Netflix production that is currently streaming.