Messagères de guerre

First I want to state very clearly, although this movie already has a small (about 35 or 40) number of positive reviews, a full 18% of the votes here on IMDb are "1". What does that say? Bigotry is still pervasive, and I doubt that many who voted it "1" even took the time to watch the movie.

(Edit: JAN 11th - Now with 210 reviews and about 16K votes, only 10% are "1" and the most common votes cluster around "7" and "8" which is a much better representation of the movie itself.)

Yes, it is by a black writer-director. Yes, the focus is on a battalion of black women in WW2. But it is derived from real people and real events and is a good and meaningful movie. I cannot imagine an educated and empathetic viewer finding great fault with this movie.

It is the 1940s and the war in Europe is far from being decided. One problem is the mail, soldiers are not getting letters from their families. And, families are not getting letters from their sons and daughters deployed overseas. Battalion number 6888 of black women are sent to get the mail back on track, those who sent them were sure they would fail. They had six months to unravel the mail mess contained in several full warehouses in the UK. They were given quarters that were dirty and in disrepair. In spite of things being stacked against them, they were able to do the job and in half that time allotted.

This movie isn't about how realistically or not the fighting is portrayed; it is about battalion 6888 and what they did. The end credits show some original footage of the women in the 1940s plus some snippets of a few of those women still living in modern times.

My wife and I watched it at home, streaming, after our usual Saturday night steak and wine dinner. We both give it a hearty "thumbs up."

There are more than these two faults in the movie. The two privates that were killed in the truck were killed on the 12th of May 1945. The war was over than in Europe. Furthermore the Lt killed in the plane was killed during assistance to ground troops fighting the Germans on the 19th december 1943. There were no ground troops fighting in the advance area yet. Dday was in the 6th of June 1944. Giving these wonderful women their respect makes details important.

The movie was good. Wonder if there were moren of these wrong details in the movie. Let me know if you found some. Always

Movie ok. Details poor.

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.

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.

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.