Police Killing

On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, a car is riddled with bullet holes, some the size of a fist. You’d think it was a gangland shooting, but these bullets were fired by the police, and the passengers were unarmed teenagers. According to the desperate mothers in this disturbing documentary, the police have their own version of the story.

Police Killing begins with the stories of the mourning families contrasted with those of the military police, but it soon becomes more shocking as we see graphic footage of fatal shootings. Bleeding children plead for help, police put a pistol in the hand of a boy they have shot to death, and a heavily armed unit murders supposed drug dealers from a helicopter. Then there are the court cases in which the perpetrators twist the story to plead self-defense, claim they were merely following orders, or say government policy is to blame. They usually succeed. Figures show that over the past 20 years, more than 16,000 people have been killed in police operations. Police Killing is a piercing cry for justice.