The story always begins with death. Jason McPherson loses his life in shocking circumstances after being taken to Notting Hill Police Station - the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) begin an internal investigation into the ‘incident’. Jason’s family is devastated and then angered when they discover what happened. Using exclusive CCTV footage and rare access to an IPCC Commissioner the film lays bare the impact of a death in police custody. The search for the truth by Jason’s sister runs parallel to the filmmaker’s investigation of light. This radical documentary film combines moving testimonies, poetry and a political analysis of state violence. Emotional and disturbing, ‘Po Po’ is more evidence that the IPCC are complicit in the lack of successful prosecutions of police officers for deaths in their custody. In the end, what emerges in the light is the need for resistance.
1997 • 7.9 ★
