Messagères de guerre

Ignore the reviewers who tell you to ignore negative reviews. Reading a review that's partially negative isn't going to hurt you.

Anyway, the Six Triple Eight follows a black female Army unit charged with sorting millions of undelivered letters and packages in a short time during WWII. The unit is given third class treatment and facilities, and the general in charge of their division attempts to undercut their mission.

Kerry Washington (as the unit's hard-driving captain) and the actors portraying unit member all give strong performances. In contrast, the actors who portray the fat general and his racist white officers act like they're in an old 60s or 70s movie about a Southern sheriff and his redneck deputies. A woman in the unit who apparently is supposed to provide comedy also seems to be based on a stereotype.

Tyler Perry deserves kudos for bringing a compelling and touching story to the screen, but he mucks up the movie with clumsy courtship scenes and a heavy-handed treatment of Army racism. The movie is too long at 129 minutes, mainly because it starts with an unrealistic battle scene followed by a courtship straight out of a BET movie. Like most movies "based on a true story," many parts of this movie have dubious historical accuracy.

The actual story is absolutely amazing, definitely one of triumph over adversity. What ruined it for me was how all the actors looked so polished and preened. If you watch the real footage at the end, there is not one scrap of makeup on the female soldiers. This made it feel unauthentic. I also found the script and some of the acting a bit woolly.

Saying that, what the actual battalion did in real life was and is incredible. It's worth a watch just to learn what they actually achieved. I just wish the film did real justice to those soldiers. I feel like they would have been a lot tougher in reality and certainly wouldn't have looked like they'd just stepped out of a beauty salon.

This is not a great movie, but it's certainly watchable. And the fact that so many of the previous 141 reviewers say that they had never heard of the 6888 and what they accomplished shows that a movie needed to be made on the subject. So bravo Tyler Perry for doing this.

My one objection is that the movie never spends time telling us how these women managed to get through all that mail in only three months. That was their signal accomplishment, what made them famous, and the movie never tells us.

It does tell us that several other units had been assigned the task previously and failed, so the 6888's achievement certainly merits recognition.

The obvious parallel contrast here is *Hidden Figures*, a downright remarkable movie that does not sell its audience short, but rather takes the time to let us see how those "human calculators" accomplished what they did. It makes us admire their ingenuity and intelligence, as well as their courage and perseverance.

I suspect the women of the 6888 had these qualities as well, but we really never get to see it.

There are books on the subject. I guess I'll have to go out and read one.

First of all, shame on you the USA for treating these soldiers / women in such a disgusting way. Made worse by the time it took to 'try' and rectify the disrespect shown. Right, I have that off my chest.

The film was average at best. When compared to Wiki, it looks like the Director did very little to stray away from the obvious. The delivery of the story was very by the numbers and I couldn't help but feel it was more of a Sunday TV movie. The story being very clunky and very simplistic.

The way the movie wrapped up was a huge disappointment. One blink of the eye and it seemed to be in overdrive to squeeze in as much as it could so it could finish. The time allocated towards bring all the loose ends together was a little disrespectful in itself. The salute scene in the train station was major cringe fest, meant to make up for all the disgusting acts. Then a major fast forwards to cover a little history before fade to black. Very disappointing.

Tyler Perry did a poor job here. He tracked the wrong story and delivered a very unbalanced story.

But I am more aware of their story so it did achieve something. But it could have been so much better...

It is unfortunate that such an extremely deserved story was told in such a basic manner. I and many people in America and beyond do not know the story of these extremely skilled individuals who helped in winning a war, and for the simple matter of learning even a bit about the 6888, this movie is worth showing and watching.

But as a film, this movie lacks effort, which I have no doubt is due to Netflix. The set never looks lived in, but like a set to play in. The makeup often looks too well done, reminding us this is a movie. Many more qualified people have pointed out the incorrect verbiage and actions of the soldiers involved, which is not excusable in a movie about soldiers. The acting is fairly stilted, but the fualt cannot be placed solely on the actors, but the director and producers involved.

It is truly a dissapointment that a film which ultimately aimed to honor and shed light on such important and often ignored individuals, failed to put in the care they deserved. If you care to learn about the 6888, watch the beginning and the end, and research from there. You'll spend the same amount of time as if you watched the entire movie, but you will actually learn about these heros.