Samoan culture displayed through movie night

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Members of the Mitamitaga O Samoa Club at a lu’au event earlier this year.

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The WSU Mitamitaga O Samoa Club hopes to share a part of what it is like to live on the islands with their showing of the film “Three Wise Cousins.”

The movie is about a New Zealand Samoan man named Adam, who attempts to learn how to live like a genuine islander to win over a girl who likes real Samoan men. Selina Falaniko, secretary of the WSU Mitamitaga O Samoa Club, explained the premise of the story.

“He goes back to the island of Samoa and he basically tries to become a real island guy,” Falaniko said. “His cousins teach him the island lifestyle.”

Before meeting the Samoan girl, Adam led the life of a spoiled child. Living in New Zealand, he did not have his Samoan culture instilled in him because his parents never taught it to him.

“There is this certain part in the movie where … the kids show him how hard it is to live back home,” Falaniko said. “In Samoa, there is a dessert and it’s called cocoa rice, and they make the cocoa rice and they go and pick the cocoa off the trees, they make it by hand.”

The movie shows the simplistic yet hard lifestyle of Pacific Islanders, Falaniko and club member Victoria Lavea said.

“I think a lot of Samoans and Tongans can relate to it because it’s like the first movie they’ve seen on the mainland that’s based on their … culture and lifestyle,” Falaniko said.

This film showing is not only for members of the club, but also nonmembers who want to learn about Pacific Islander culture.

“We wanted to share our culture with them,” Lavea said. “We wanted them to see Samoa. The kids who come out here, they have families that are back on the islands. We want them to remember. It’s a reminder of their purpose here on the mainland to come to school. For others who are not Pacific Islanders, to learn a new culture, to see what life is really like back on the island.”

In the film, Adam learns the importance of a Samoan lifestyle. He gives back and honors the family, Lavea explained.

“My favorite part was close to the ending of the movie where he, over time, starts to change and applies the lessons that he learns from back on the islands in his own life,” Lavea said. “He starts to use the concept of doing chores for your parents, serving them, doing work around the house, and going back to school to help the family.”

The film not only presents Pacific Islander culture, but it includes comedic romance. The cousins speak in broken English, but it makes for some great laughs, Lavea explained.

“It comes off really funny and weird when they talk,” Lavea said, “but you can actually know the message that they are there to share.”

The film will be shown at 5 p.m. tonight in CUE room 202. Refreshments, hot dogs, chili and chips will be provided. This event is free to nonmembers and members.