Seis Triple Ocho

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...

Opening scene: an Army unit LEAVES their covered, fortified position to charge an attacking enemy. In an open field...

As you would imagine, mass casualties happen. Then friendly planes start bombing and and crashing in said field??

That's not even remotely how that would have went down. Countless documentaries, were available but ignored. Sour taste right out the gate. Lost the trust of the audience.

This is what happens when people with no emotional connection to a subject matter are given a project they don't respect beyond the what they can gain from being associated with a project.

There are so many historians that would have gladly told the director it was a terrible way to portray that engagement.

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.

It did seem a bit like a hallmark movie (which I can't stand), but I did enjoy it, and I added 1 more point because I learned something.

I understand the technical complaints some veterans had, and I don't undertand why they didn't seem to get advice for that aspect of the film. But it seemed to me that many of the negative comments were because the reviewers thought that the film had some kind of agenda, or a slant, and that it was "too busy pushing political ideology". The truth hurts for some people. It is abhorrent how blacks were treated by whites, and it's sad there are people who are triggered by that fact. That's the bottom line with criticism like that.

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.