LEA TUPU’ANGA / MOTHER TONGUE

Katherine, a young speech therapist of Tongan and European heritage has lied about her Tongan language skills to work with Siaosi – an elderly Tongan patient with aphasia who has lost his ability to speak English.   Siaosi resents Katherine’s presence and is resistant to her speech therapy sessions. Katherine unwittingly offends Siaosi and is left feeling disconnected and insecure about her identity. Under pressure to complete her report, Katherine returns to Siaosi’s house. When Siaosi catches Katherine trespassing on his property, he berates her and Katherine breaks down in tears. Katherine’s vulnerability catches Siaosi off-guard and an amusing miscommunication leads to a heart-warming moment.    Katherine bonds with Siaosi and just as they start to make progress in their speech therapy, Siaosi suffers a medical emergency. Panicking and out of her depth, Katherine must find a way to communicate with her patient, or risk Siaosi’s life and have her professional mistruth revealed.