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“Mo” is a semi-autobiographical series that tells the story of Mohamed Amer and what it means to be an undocumented Palestinian refugee in Houston, Texas.
Mo
In Texas, Mo must juggle two cultures, three languages, and a pending asylum claim as she scrambles to support her Palestinian family.
“Mo”, the Mohamed Amer series
“Mo” is a semi-autobiographical series, tells the story of Mohamed Mustafa Amer, aka “Mo Amer”, an American-Palestinian comedian born in Kuwait but raised in Houston as a refugee, and his misadventures. In the very first episode he will in fact be fired from his job as an undocumented refugee and from there he will begin a long epic that will lead him first to sell fake items, then to work as a DJ in a strip club and finally to grow olive trees on the estate of a Texan factor.
Meanwhile, he will have to try to solve important problems such as obtaining documents, agreements with gang stars and a complex relationship with Maria, his Mexican girlfriend. Surrounding all this, a good but very particular family, a semi-addiction to lean and the discovery of some wounds that have tormented the past of his parents.
From Ramy to the refugees
It is needless to say that this series by genesis, style and authors immediately makes the mind fly on “Ramy”, which I told you about last Ramadan, the two products, however, despite being designed by the same minds (Mo Amer is one of the main characters of the “Ramy” series and Ramy Youssef himself is one of the two creators of “Mo”) are not in the least the same thing and revolve around themes between of them quite different. While in “Ramy” the main focus is on being an American Muslim, “Mo” mainly tells what it feels like to be an undocumented Palestinian refugee, an extremely degrading condition that leads to a considerable number of practical problems and hardships.
Being without documents in fact binds you to a place from which you cannot escape but which at the same time precludes you from an infinite series of services, forcing you to make do in every possible way and often finding yourself making choices that revolve around the world of illegality. You can not get a job except in black, you can not leave the country for fear of becoming stateless and you are without any protection as for the state you do not technically exist, a condition that is easy to talk about from a distance but which if lived can easily transform in hell on earth. Mo, moreover, having grown up in Texas and having had a long relationship with a Mexican girl, also tells us what it means to have origins in that country and live in the USA, a condition that, especially since the advent of Trump and his wall, does not it is among the most idyllic. In conjunction with this, we will also be reminded of what happened to the approximately 400,000 people present in Kuwait during the outbreak of the Gulf War, an often forgotten but very important page of history for understanding the Palestinian diaspora.
“Mo” is a series that can be devoured within a few hours and that will allow you to take a journey into one of the most current problems of the 21st century, while never lacking in the irony of lightness. Absolutely recommended, you can find it on Netflix.
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