A BOY CALLED PO
Parental love breaks through barriers.
Should You Watch It?
A BOY CALLED PO puts parental love at the center of a painful family struggle. Its strongest material comes from the relationship between David and Po, a father and son trying to reach each other after the death of Po’s mother. The film treats their challenges seriously while moving toward a morally uplifting resolution.
The movie is low-budget and sometimes lingers, with several endings after its powerful climax. But those endings resolve important issues rather than simply extending the story. The objectionable content is limited, and a reference to evolution is balanced by a positive reference to God.
If your family can engage thoughtfully with autism, grief, bullying, and disability, this is worth seeing. For older children through adults, A BOY CALLED PO is WORTH THE TRIP.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESAfter his wife dies from cancer, David Wilson becomes a single father caring for his sixth-grade son, Patrick, who prefers to be called Po. Po is gifted but struggles to communicate his grief and navigate life after losing his mother.
As David faces pressure at work and Po endures bullying at school, father and son begin withdrawing into separate worlds. David must find a way to reach Po before his son disappears too far into his fantasy life.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is an excellent film despite some imperfections. A BOY CALLED PO is an engaging, touching drama with a strong, powerful climax. The multiple endings and a few dramatic detours can make the story linger, but each ending serves a purpose and resolves important issues.
Christopher Gorman and Julian Feder do marvelous work as David and Po. Kaitlin Doubleday also gives a good performance as Amy, the therapist who helps father and son. Burt Bacharach’s excellent score is another strength.
The Worldview
A BOY CALLED PO presents a strong moral, pro-family worldview. It exalts a widowed father’s love and concern for his autistic son, even when communication and behavior make that relationship difficult. It also portrays Po as loving despite the challenges he faces.
The film supports perseverance, parental responsibility, and compassion. It includes strong pro-capitalist elements through David’s engineering work and the way investments ultimately pay off. A reference to Charles Darwin and natural selection appears, but the film balances it with a positive reference to God and the amazing things He does through His power and grace.
The movie’s central conviction is that love can reach someone who seems to be withdrawing from the world. Scripture says, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong moral, pro-family worldview extolling the parental love and concern a widowed father has for his autistic child despite the difficulties he faces in reaching out to his son, who’s also loving despite the huge difficulties he faces in communicating and behaving properly, with a positive reference to God and (symbolically) the power of His grace, strong pro-capitalist content where father is an engineer trying to create an electric passenger jet that can fly, and investments pay off, a reference to Charles Darwin and his theory of “natural selection,” and three or four verbal references that one girl in autistic boy’s school has “two daddies,” but (SPOILER) she turns out to be imaginary; two “d” obscenities and two light exclamatory profanities; bully punches autistic child in the eye, and autistic child gets a black eye, autistic boys gets upset sometimes and flails his arms, and an adult has to grab him forcefully and quiet him, father gets angry in one scene and slams an object onto the ground, bully shoves autistic boy against school lockers a couple times; no sex but man kisses new girlfriend once or twice; no nudity; man and new girlfriend may have some wine in one scene; no smoking or drugs; and, bullying and overbearing government official makes a mistake (which ultimately reflects badly on government overreach).
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
David struggles to understand how to reach Po. What helps people communicate love when words are difficult?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 · Ephesians 4:29The film shows the damage bullying can do to a vulnerable child. How can your family respond when someone is mistreated or left out?
Micah 6:8 · Philippians 2:3–4Po’s mother’s death affects everyone differently. How can a family make room for grief while continuing to care for one another?
Romans 12:15 · Psalm 34:18The film points to God’s power and grace. Where have you seen grace bring strength or hope in a difficult situation?
2 Corinthians 12:9 · Ephesians 2:8–9The Final Word
A BOY CALLED PO is a touching, morally uplifting drama about a father’s determination to reach his son. Its story sometimes lingers, but its powerful climax, strong performances, and limited objectionable content make it a worthwhile choice for older children and adults. WORTH THE TRIP.
