Film Review 'Meet The Snows' delivers on action, message

Independently produced film highlights human trafficking

By Jasmine Hall

“Meet The Snows” is an action-packed thriller starring Ronald Taylor as Ex-Navy Seal Ryan Snow. Directed by Robert Peters, the one-hourand 46-minute film displays the lengths to which we would go to protect our family.

Ryan and his wife Vanity Snow (played by Prieska Outland) have 24 hours to find their daughter Ye ( played by Bree Poppy Davis) and rescue her after she is taken by a black-market human sex trafficking organization. Vanity’s character is a former CIA operative, so the pair work well together.

The independent film, produced for roughly $150,000, made its debut at Sandhills 10 Carolina Cinemas in Southern Pines last December. It also was screened here at Bethune- Cookman University on Jan. 21, 2023, in observance of National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Keidra Ponder, whose production company Keedie Productions, produced the film has family ties to Daytona Beach. She also is a co-writer on the film with Taylor, whose company, G4 Elite, was co-producer.

The story begins with two men having a conversation outside of a nightclub and suddenly they are stuffing a woman into the back of a big car. Meanwhile, the Snows are enjoying their lives in Atlanta, Georgia, while daughter Ye is getting accustomed to college life. Ye informs her parents she is going to a lounge with her

Black History Trivia

friend Naomi while her parents are also having a night out on the town. The next morning The Snows wake up to the devastating news that their daughter Ye did not make it home last night and is missing. Some might say the films has some of the hallmarks of the popular “Taken” film trilogy but with soul.

You may recognize Bree Poppy Davis as the actress who played the youngest daughter on the “My Wife and Kids” television show.

The storytellers did not have to look too far for inspiration for this movie. Research suggest that between 15,000 and 50,000 women and children in the United States are subjected to sexual slavery annually. Exact figures vary greatly because the issue is so hard to study. Meanwhile, 1,343 people were charged with human trafficking in 2020 compared to 729 in 2011, an increase of 84 percent. Likewise, the number of people convicted of federal human trafficking charges increased between 2011 (464 people) and 2019 (837 people), before declining in 2020 to 658.

Taylor and Ponder are to be commended for their effort in producing this independent film. I only saw a few things that they might want to watch for in the future. In a few scenes we see Ryan Snow dress up in tactical gear on his way to kick butt but the next time we see him, there is no gear insight. Also, the sound quality in some scenes could be better. Turn down the rap music.

Overall, if you get a chance to view it, do so. It just might inspire you to try your hand at filmmaking.

Rating: **** out of 5

William Tucker, son of indentured servants from Great Britain, was the first recorded African child to be born in the colonies in 1624. Vermont was the first colony to ban slavery in 1777. In the 1770s, a Quaker named Anthony Benezet created the first school for African American children. courtesy of www.paycor.com

Black History Trivia

In 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler graduated from the New England Female Medical College as the first Black woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. Baseball legend Jackie Robinson had an older brother, Matthew “Mack” Robinson, who broke the Olympic record in 1936 in the 200-meter dash. However, he took home the silver medal because he finished behind Jesse Owens Before becoming a professional musician, Chuck Berry studied to become a hairdresser and has a degree in cosmetology.