Tyler Perry has built up a reputation as a director for making low-hanging fruit that is very popular with especially American audiences. Particularly with his Madea franchise, which he is working on the 14th film, he seems to have struck a chord with the cultural zeitgeist, despite being critically panned. Judging by his filmography he works fast, with The Six Triple Eight being his third film, and sadly it shows. Like his only other film I have seen, For Colored Girls, Perry underdevelops his wide cast, without giving many of them the deserved service they need.
This is particularly important for his latest film The Six Triple Eight, a true story about an all-female and predominantly black battalion in World War II, sent over to Birmingham to sort through unsent mail. Given six months to do the once-thought-easy task, upon arrival they realise the scale of their challenge with a backlog of 17 million items. In an attempt to prove themselves against a system that discriminates against their race and gender, they sort through the post, giving both soldiers and families the morale boost they need.
However, the film significantly struggles in its inability to have a coherent structure that does justice to the film’s tale. The opening act shoehorns in a mixed-race love story, with the male character deciding to go to war, him dying in combat, and his girlfriend, Lena, deciding to join the army. It is far too much to cover in the 20 minutes of the opening act. Meanwhile, the second act is bulky, long and winding. There doesn’t feel a great deal of struggle or pushback, making this gargantuan task seem simple and mundane. Likewise, the trauma of Lena losing her boyfriend feels shoehorned in and has little to do with the main narrative for most of the film.
What The Six Triple Eight turns out to be then, is a bland and passive film about an intriguing tale. Whilst it took the woman 90 days to achieve this monumental feat, it feels as if Perry took it upon himself to complete the film in that timeframe as well. It feels rushed, and poorly thought through, not providing enough power and punch in what should be a tale of persistence, struggle and defiance.
Whilst The Six Triple Eight is not a dreadful film, I would suggest anyone particularly interested in this story to watch it purely from an untold piece of War history, especially as it is on Netflix. However, it is not the film’s doing that adds to this, rather it subtracts. Taking an intriguing story and making it boring, dull and ordinary.
Comments