The Six Triple Eight

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."