Snowflakes: Final Girls Berlin Review

7th February 2020

Snowflakes is a short film written and directed by Faye Jackson. Esther (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) and Miriam (Cherrelle Skeete) are two women who are being forcibly deported to Jamaica, Esther is resisting harder than Miriam because she has been in the UK for forty years and so is clearly distressed as it seems that none of the officials from the government care.

Miriam on the other hand is taking it more calmly although she is clearly not one to keep quiet and play along. Esther’s distress is met with contempt and apathy from the officials who are treating the people at the deportation centre like cattle. That is until something unexpected and miraculous happens that sees Esther and Miriam given a chance at freedom.

Although up until a point, the events that happen in Snowflakes could easily happen in any deportation centre throughout the UK (maybe even more so considering recent events), Snowflakes doesn’t want to hammer home its message to tell its audience that what is happening is wrong. Anybody with half a heart would see that the way these women (particularly Esther) are treated is an abuse of power and against human rights.

What Faye Jackson wants to show is that there are consequences to actions that may not be deemed illegal, but are unequivocally wrong and she uses humour in order to get her point across. Both Duncan-Brewster and Skeete play their parts well, the latter with great humour and the former putting the audience on edge and making them really feel for her situation as it gets more traumatic.

However, the twist is what really makes it stand out and through a few lines of dialogue, Jackson tells the audience exactly what need to know about what’s happening and is able to make the audience think about the real message behind the comedy. The score also manages to keep things light and bouncy for what could have been a story dealt with in a very different way.

Snowflakes never preaches to its audience but instead makes them look themselves in the mirror and forces them to ask themselves if they can really live with the consequences of their actions, no matter how small.

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