PO
An uplifting father-son drama about love, loss, and communication.
Should You Watch It?
PO is a heartfelt drama about a father and son struggling through grief, autism, financial pressure, and the pain of losing connection. Its strongest quality is the love between David and Po. The film treats that love as an active force—something that keeps a parent reaching out when communication seems impossible.
The story sometimes lingers, and its multiple endings may test your patience. Still, those endings resolve important issues, and the climax is powerful. The film also contains very little objectionable content, with only light language, some bullying, and a few worldview issues that are balanced by a positive reference to God.
If your family is ready for a serious, compassionate drama about perseverance and parental love, WORTH THE TRIP.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESDavid Wilson is a widowed engineer raising his sixth-grade son, Patrick, who prefers to be called “Po.” Po is gifted and autistic, but he cannot communicate his grief after losing his mother.
As David struggles with work and money, Po faces bullying at school and begins withdrawing into a fantasy world. When circumstances force David to consider placing his son in a state facility, father and son must find a way back to each other.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means PO succeeds as a moving, morally uplifting family drama. Christopher Gorman and Julian Feder do marvelous work as David and Po, while Kaitlin Doubleday gives a strong performance as Amy, the therapist who helps them. Burt Bacharach’s excellent score is also a notable strength.
The film’s main weakness is pacing. It sometimes lingers and includes multiple endings, along with a couple of dramatic detours. Even so, those endings serve a purpose by resolving important issues after the powerful climax. The result is an engaging low-budget film with a strong emotional center.
The Worldview
PO presents a strong moral, pro-family worldview centered on a widowed father’s love and concern for his autistic son. David keeps trying to reach Po despite the difficulties, while Po is shown as loving even when communicating and behaving properly are difficult for him. The film also presents parental perseverance as a source of hope.
The movie includes strong pro-capitalist content through David’s engineering work on an electric passenger jet and the way investments pay off. It refers to Charles Darwin and natural selection, while a female therapist makes a positive reference to God and the amazing things He does through His power and grace. The film contains no other religious references.
The film’s central longing is for a parent and child to find one another again. Scripture calls fathers to care for their children with patient responsibility: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
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 grad 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 keeps trying to reach Po when communication seems impossible. What does patient love look like when someone we love is hurting?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 · Galatians 6:2Po withdraws into a fantasy world after grief and bullying. How can a family notice when someone is pulling away, and how can it respond with compassion?
Romans 12:15 · 1 Thessalonians 5:14The film connects love with perseverance. Where do you need to keep showing faithful love, even when the results are slow?
1 Corinthians 15:58 · Hebrews 10:24–25The story includes a positive reference to God’s power and grace. How does God’s grace meet people in weakness and difficulty?
2 Corinthians 12:9 · Ephesians 2:8–9The Final Word
PO is a compassionate, morally uplifting drama with a powerful climax and very little objectionable content. Its pacing wanders, but its central picture of parental love is worth receiving. For older children and adults, this is WORTH THE TRIP.
