Messagères de guerre

Tyler Perry is widely known for his knack for crafting stories that move audiences, but in "The Six Triple Eight," that emotionally charged approach ends up smothering a story that deserved a more refined treatment. The film tackles a powerful and largely untold historical event-the journey of the all-Black female 6888 battalion during World War II-but it stumbles while trying to balance epic grandeur with an over-the-top melodrama that weakens the story's impact. The intention to honor these women is clear, but the final result feels inconsistent, as if Perry is trying to tell too much at once without giving the story room to breathe and truly resonate.

The screenplay, written by Perry himself, tries to cover too many narrative fronts, but the excessive fragmentation hurts the film's cohesion. The introduction is a prime example: jumping from a battle sequence in 1943 to a forbidden romance in 1942, and then to intense military training in 1944, the structure feels more focused on creating isolated dramatic moments than on building an engaging narrative flow. As a result, the film's uneven pacing keeps the audience from organically connecting with the protagonists' journey. Instead of gradually drawing us into the struggles these women faced, we're thrown from one event to another without enough time to absorb the emotional weight of each situation.

Lena Derriecott King (Ebony Obsidian) is the emotional core of the story, but her romantic arc with soldier Hugh Bell (Jay Reeves), and the lingering shadow of her lost love Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), end up feeling overly melodramatic and predictable. Lena's grief and loss are crucial aspects of her journey, but Perry's approach makes everything feel too didactic, with explanatory dialogue and scenes that seem more focused on reinforcing her pain than exploring it in a genuine way. Kerry Washington, as Major Charity Adams, delivers a strong and commanding performance, but the script gives her little room for nuance. Her character is portrayed so rigidly and one-dimensionally that she ends up feeling more like a symbol than a real person, which weakens the impact of her fight against systemic racism within the military.

Visually, "The Six Triple Eight" doesn't impress either. The battle scenes suffer from visual effects that look like they belong in a low-budget production, with artificial explosions and a color palette that fails to capture the gravity of the wartime setting. The overly polished production design strips away the realism the story demands, with sets that look more like theater stages than the lived-in, war-torn environments these women endured. The costumes and makeup follow the same pattern, with an unrealistic perfection that clashes with the gritty, harsh reality these women faced.

However, the film does find its strength in the moments when it focuses on the camaraderie among the women in the battalion. When Perry allows himself to explore the bond and solidarity between the characters, there's an authenticity that's missing from other parts of the film. Small, lighthearted moments-like the scenes where the soldiers dance or share their fears-bring a sense of genuine humanity that elevates the narrative. Shanice Shantay, as Johnnie Mae, adds some much-needed levity, but her character dangerously flirts with stereotypes that, while common in this type of story, could have been avoided to bring a fresher perspective to the film.

Another recurring issue is the film's overly speech-heavy tone. Perry tends to favor big emotional monologues, and while that might work in other contexts, here it makes the film feel heavy-handed and predictable. The dialogue often feels like it's written for instant impact, with characters constantly verbalizing their emotions in an exaggerated way instead of letting the performances speak for themselves. This is especially noticeable in the scenes that tackle racial discrimination. Instead of subtly and powerfully showing the pain and resilience of these women, the film opts to hammer the message home in a way that feels like it's reminding the audience at every turn that racism is cruel and oppressive. This lack of subtlety ends up diminishing the natural emotional impact the story carries.

Despite its flaws, the film delivers an important and necessary message. It's a reminder of the crucial role these women played during the war and the ongoing struggle for recognition that continues across generations. Perry deserves credit for bringing this story to light, but it feels like the execution doesn't quite live up to the significance of the subject matter. A more restrained approach could have allowed the emotions to emerge more naturally and less theatrically.

"The Six Triple Eight" is a film with good intentions, but it gets lost in the need to drive its messages home too forcefully, resulting in a drama that, while touching at times, lacks the depth and authenticity needed to make it truly memorable.

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.

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.

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...

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.