Can a Penguin Save a Teacher from Political Turmoil? Find Out!

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It’s easy to envision audiences finding amusement in a comedy featuring Steve Coogan as an inspiring teacher with his pet penguin among a group of pampered boarding school students. Similarly, it’s easy to picture audiences being captivated by a political drama detailing Argentina’s Dirty War and the overthrow of President Isabel Perón’s government by a brutal military junta in 1976, resulting in the deaths of approximately 30,000 dissidents. However, it might be challenging for audiences to appreciate “The Penguin Lessons,” a film that tries to blend these two disparate themes but often fails to do so smoothly due to the significant narrative contrasts.

It’s interesting to note that “The Penguin Lessons” is actually inspired by real events. Young Tom Michell, around his twenties, found employment as an English teacher at a Buenos Aires boarding school. During a trip to Uruguay, he stumbled upon a Magellan penguin covered in oil on the beach and decided to save it, eventually bringing it back to Argentina.

Based on Michael Morpurgo’s 2016 memoir, director Peter Cattaneo (known for “The Full Monty”) portrays Morpurgo’s tale with gentle humor and warmth in “Penguin Bloom.” The penguin helps Tom, aged to be played by Steve Coogan, break free from his grief-stricken shell. Simultaneously, the bird becomes a silent ally to the school staff members. While the movie is charming and mildly motivational in a ’90s Miramax style, it stumbles when events start mirroring real-life tragedies. The director, Cattaneo, and Coogan find it challenging to smoothly transition into darker themes such as regret and despair. However, the penguin is incredibly cute, so whenever the movie seems less engaging, just wait for the next close-up of the charming flightless bird, and you’ll be alright.

Steve Coogan’s Deadpan Drollery Mixes with Tragedy

Initially, Tom’s boarding school maintains a distance from political matters, despite nearby explosions signaling turmoil. The school’s headmaster, Buckle (Jonathan Pryce), views the approaching military coup as a distasteful affair and encourages Tom to confine his politics within himself. This arrangement suits the Englishman well, who prefers solitude over socializing with colleagues such as the Finnish professor (Björn Gustafsson), who seems to lack understanding of sarcasm.

In my humble opinion, the masterful performance of Coogan, known for his hilarious portrayal of Alan Partridge and his Oscar-nominated roles in Philomena (2013), shines once more. This time, he delivers a brilliant display of dry wit and understated humor, masking a deep, disheartening melancholy. The character he plays is a teacher struggling with unruly students, apathetic learners, and an unexpected assignment as the school’s rugby coach – a role he knows absolutely nothing about.

Kidnapping, Police Beatings, and Comedy?

The tranquil indifference of Tom is disrupted when the chaotic political crisis that’s sweeping across the nation seeps into the school. Eventually, the coup occurs and the school shuts down for a whole week. In this time, carefree Tom flees to Uruguay for some revelry and excess. Along a Uruguayan coastline, he and his hoped-for fleeting lover spot a penguin miraculously surviving an appalling oil spill. After cleaning the penguin up, the woman departs, leaving Tom with a penguin who stubbornly insists on staying close by.

In Jeff Pope’s script, penned with Coogan, the humor shines as Tom embarks on a secret mission to return a penguin to Argentina, keeping it hidden from his students and Buckley. Although there are opportunities for larger laughs, Cattaneo opts for a more subdued approach to allow the upcoming tragedies to have a greater impact. However, the plot’s tone swings too drastically as it includes broad daylight kidnapping, implied police brutality, and a gathering of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo – women who marched to highlight their missing and presumably murdered loved ones.

The main events, many of which deviate from Michelle’s actual experiences and have a similar feel, are primarily presented through the character of Tom’s elderly housekeeper Maria (played by Vivian El Jaber). Maria’s granddaughter Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio) is kidnapped. At first, Tom maintains a cautious distance regarding Maria’s ordeal, but as a symbolic penguin named Juan Salvador accompanies him, his moral compass stirs to life.

A Delightful Trifle Which Wishes to Be More

In the novel “The Penguin Lessons,” Cattaneo employs a humorous, playful style, enhanced by Federico Jusid’s moderate music score. This tone is effectively maintained as Juan Salvador, due to his undeniable cuteness, manages to capture the students’ attention in class. In one instance, they are seen lying on the floor while the penguin wanders around them, causing the children to view the world from a unique angle. However, the narrative becomes rather simplistic, and when Tom unveils his tragic past, Coogan lacks the emotional range to make it resonate beyond a moment of sadness in a light-hearted comedy. Interestingly, his finest acting performances are when he plays himself, particularly in “The Trip” and “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

In this movie, “The Penguin Lessons,” it tries to appear deep and thought-provoking, yet it struggles to balance its inherent lighthearted charm with the exploration of heavy themes and harsh realities.

In other words: The film “The Penguin Lessons” pretends to be more complex than it actually is, but it fails to harmonize its natural tendency to be a delightful diversion with its ambition to delve into profound emotions and disturbing historical facts.

The heartwarming film “The Penguin Lessons,” produced by 42 and Nostromo Pictures, will be screened in cinemas starting March 28, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

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2025-03-25 02:03