The Penguin Lessons

At a first glimpse, it seems practical to easily dismiss The Penguin Lessons. For all its faults and obvious cliches, the film is actually very sincere in approach and execution, and Steven Coogan really turns in a very sincere performance. Additionally, it would be easy to label The Penguin Lessons as Dead Poets Society meets March of the Penguins, as it’s about a private school English teacher and Englishman named Michell (Coogan) who finds himself accidentally adopting a penguin after trying to pick up a woman he met at a nightclub during turbulent political times in Argentina’s shift to authoritarianism that was led by dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who took presidency under a military coup. Michell ends up cleaning the oil off the penguin with his date, and once he leashes it back into the ocean, the penguin ends up going right back to him while he relaxes at the beach.

Of course, the penguin goes through various name changes from “Peter” until it lands the more suitable Latin name of Juan Salvadore. Michell is the routine, flawed teacher—lonely and broke as he’s searching for a purpose in his life. He meets a number of wise students in his classroom, and he is instructed by the school’s administrator (Jonathyn Pryce) to not bring up the current political events in class and to remain neutral. It doesn’t take long to see that the kids are sympathetic to fascism and authorities as they crack mean jokes about torturing a shyer, flamboyant classmate.

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classic

The students are currently sympathetic to the means of the police state—their parents are very wealthy and hold deep disdain for communist dissenters. While at the same time, Communist governments in Cuba, the Soviet Union, and China squash dissent of people who aren’t Communist, the moral compass in this film is the power of having a free society that allows for dissent, free speech, and upholding democracy. The principles certainly shine through with The Penguin Lessons, and it takes a little penguin for the students to come together and become kinder to each other in the classroom to foster a more humane future. What has the potential of feeling schmalzy is anchored by Coogan in a very amusing and equally contained performance. The from-the-heart performance comes from how Coogan works with actors. Each actor in the film ignites due to his presence. Of course, the scenes involving the penguin are “irresistibly charming. While a flawed character, it’s hard not to be moved by his character growth here and the friendships he makes along the way, which include a housekeeper named Maia (Vivan El Jaber), the science teacher at the school named Tapio (Bjorn Gustaffsn), and Maria’s housekeeping assistant Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio), who ends up being taken away for recently protesting on college campuses.

The screenplay, by Jeff Pope, doesn’t walk on eggshells in taking such serious subject matter as authoritarian rule and reducing it into a dramatic comedy. It’s an ambitious approach that could easily be dismissed as disingenuous, but there is certainly a deep sympathy on the subject matter that prevents it from feeling hollow. Also, the direction by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) and the performance end up working where it reaches its full poignancy. We have already watched many South American films in the past with such titles as No, Argentina 1985, Postmortem, and Chile ’76. Those films were all very bleak and chilling, as expected, and while there are many moments that feel maudlin, there is enough poignancy in the film that makes the narrative emerge with tenderness where it never feels hokey.

The climax, which I will not reveal is undeniably affecting, and you are emotionally invested with each of the characters that its well-earned. If The Penguin Lessons had spent a little more time on the political turmoil and less time on some of the inferior cutesy scenes, then this certainly could have been something greater, but it still all comes together as a satisfying film.

The Penguin Lessons is now playing in theaters.