Moni (English/Samoan) (Web Series)

This is a story told from the perspective of a closeted Samoan man, who returns home after 10 plus years haunted by a secret from his childhood. With his dead mother's ghost lurking around, he needs to embrace his truth and help his mother make peace.Told in 6 episodes of just 10 minutes each, this one is a quick and easy watch. It never goes into the too dramatic zone. I found this very interesting, because we normally get to see many queer stories from Pacific Islands.

A young bride Hana is rehearsing for her wedding with all of her extended Samoan family when suddenly her older bog brother Moni arrives. Moni has been MIA for over 10 years and is rumored to be in London. Hana and everyone else is surprised and she is in no mood to forgive her brother, especially when he did not even care to show up for their mother's death few month. When Moni goes home, his mother's ghost is there to haunt him. He is the only one who can see her and this needs to be an opportunity for Moni to embrace his truth. During wedding preps, he comes out to everyone openly saying that he is gay. Thankfully not much drama happens, but whenever an Uncle's name comes up, Moni decides to shrug it. Turns out that the uncle abused Moni when he was 16 and Moni's mother saw it but did nothing. She was worried about social shame and what would people say, thereby pushing Moni fully in a closet of shame. At the wedding, when uncle starts to give a speech representing himself as head of the family, Moni finally interrupts, takes charge, blesses his sister and side eyes his uncle, who gets the hint and leaves. Moni embracing his truth and true self and dealing with the stigma with uncle was what was likely keeping the mother here.

The world of Moni is complex, deeply layered and intimately beautiful. It is a story that is specifically Australian while also being uniquely Samoan, bringing a beautiful insight into the culturally rich landscape of Western Sydney's Samoan community. At its heart Moni is also a queer narrative set in one of the most heavily religious areas of Australia. I am guessing being gay in traditional Pacifikan countries is still considered taboo cos as far as I know they are all very religious. Even if we keep that aside, this story , may seem simple, but there is a lot going on. Moni accepting his truth and being comfortable with it, the mother's ghost making her own redemption, the sister who was left alone, finally embracing the only close family she has left and how the community as a whole comes together. The director has tried to acknowledge the fact that queer folks have always existed within the community, evident by the scene when Hana is trying out her dress in presence of Fa'afafine (a socially accepted gender in Samoan culture that exists outside the male/female binary). The actors all do a good job in the series and I had a good time watching it. Watching a queer story from different cultures is always fascinating and this was a good change from a series of never ending Asian BL series that hit us every day. (6.5/10)