The Six Triple Eight Parent Guide

The saying “An army marches on its stomach” is hard-wired into military planning. Along with ammunition, every unit must be properly supplied with food if it is to function effectively. But there’s something more a fighting force needs – and that’s morale.

It’s 1944 and as the US Army sweeps across Europe, its mail sits unmoving in aircraft hangars in Britain. Over seventeen million letters and parcels have piled up, and despite the efforts of several military units, the backlog never seems to decrease. Battle-weary soldiers aren’t getting letters and gifts from home and their frantic families stateside aren’t being reassured by news from the front. Fixing the post problem is a hot potato so it’s eventually handed off to the 6888^th, an all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Under the leadership of Captain Charity Adams (played by a steel-spined Kerry Washington), the women are given six months to get the mail moving.

The story of the Six-Triple-Eight is told from the perspective of Lena Derriecott (Ebony Obsidian), a young high school graduate from Pennsylvania. Bereaved and heartsick, Lena is determined to fight for her country, which gives her enough grit to persist through basic training. Once in the UK, she’s as shocked as her fellow WACs to discover that their headquarters is a dilapidated school with neither heat nor hot water. The mountains of mail they are to sort present their own problems – rats, mold, illegible addresses. To make matters worse, many men have identical names, and troops are constantly on the move, making it difficult to direct the mail. The women must use their wits, experience, and ingenuity to make sure the post is delivered.

Along with these practical and logistical challenges, the women face the never-ending burden of racism. They’ve endured it at home, and now they face it on assignment. Whether it be white soldiers demanding their seats in a theater, or white officers screaming abuse at the women while they are on duty, or commanding officers sabotaging their efforts, the women’s work is made far more difficult, not by the enemy, but by those who should be their comrades-in-arms. This film is a gut-wrenching portrayal of the mental and emotional toll of racism, and of the hideous cost it inflicts on society as a whole.

Given its relatively low levels of negative content, I heartily recommend this film for families with teens, but I’d wait for its streaming date. The movie is fascinating but flawed: the acting is a bit stiff at the beginning, some of the dialogue feels a bit off, and the battlefield special effects are more suited to TV than a big screen. The script also spends too much time on poorly developed characters and doesn’t give any time to Charity Adams’ backstory, which I, for one, would love to see. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a movie that efficiently delivers messages of dignity, equality, persistence, and strength, The Six Triple Eight is the show for you.