The Penguin Lessons – Dir: Peter Cattaneo (13th Floor Film Review)
In The Penguin Lessons, The Full Monty’s Peter Cattaneo helms a sweet natured tale of redemption via Penguin set against a backdrop of political unrest.
Starring: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Vivian El Jaber, Björn Gustafsson
Based upon the memoire of Tom Mitchell, who was in his early 20’s when he went to South America to teach at an exclusive boy’s school, The Penguin Lessons is set in 1976 Argentina at the beginning of the Dirty War.
The junta that seized power that year went on to oversee seven years of military dictatorship and over 10,000 persons “disappeared” as suspected left-wing political opponents of the regime.
Which doesn’t exactly sound like the backstory for a charming film about a man who rescues a penguin from an oil slick and finds himself with an unexpectedly tenacious feathered sidekick.
However, director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty, Military Wives), knows what he is doing here and somehow this strange combination of politics and penguin come together with a delightful synchronicity.
While Coogan is clearly older than Mitchell was at the time, any age disparity is irrelevant here, as he perfectly pulls off the quintessential Englishman abroad. A role he has had plenty of practice at whilst anchoring the hugely popular “The Trip” franchise.
Our tale takes flight (I warn you now that this review will feature some avian puns) when Mitchell escapes the stifling confines of the school and heads away on a mini break to nearby Uruguay.
A romantic beach walk swiftly turns into a tragic scene when Mitchell and his companion stumble across a colony of Penguins who have fallen foul of an oil slick.
At the urging of his date, who he is working overtime to impress, Mitchell, albeit somewhat grudgingly, scoops up the sole surviving bird and smuggles him into his hotel for a bath and a can of kippers.
The young Penguin swiftly forms an unwelcome attachment to his reluctant rescuer and sticks to Mitchell like an octopus on his face, resisting any attempts at repatriation to the ocean from whence he came.
The local constabulary are amusingly insistent that the bird is now his responsibility, in a kind of “you saved it, you bought it” scenario.
Finding himself between a pingüino and a hard place, Mitchell smuggles his Penguin/Albatross back to the school in Argentina where it takes up residence in his apartment, much to the delight of his housekeeper and her politically active daughter.
The feathered visitor is also introduced to the spoiled and entitled student body who take him to their collective hearts and christen him Juan Salvador.
For the curious, the leading bird is played by two real penguins and an animatronic “stunt penguin’ and the integration between them is seamless.
The Penguin Lessons is a narrative that could easily veer into schmaltzy territory, but Cattaneo manages to ensure that the Penguin lessons of the title are taught with a light touch and manages to avoid bashing his audience over the head with any metaphors.
As protagonist, Tom Mitchell is not a bad guy, he just wants to do his job and keep his head down amid the growing political unrest simmering around him.
The school’s headmaster, Jonathan Pryce being, Jonathan Pryce, not there is anything wrong with that as he is perfectly cast here, is well versed in the art of ignoring anything unpleasant that may be occurring outside of the privileged bubble of his domain.
He actively encourages Tom’s ostrich-like approach to his unfamiliar environment and is extremely miffed when his newest employee begins to open his eyes and pay attention to the human rights violations occurring right on their doorstep.
At the risk of needing a spoiler alert. I did Google ‘what happens to the Penguin” before attending the screening.
I do tend to care more about animals than people in movies (I may also have googled “does this make me a sociopath”) and the first sign of a vulnerable critter in a movie trailer has me racing to www.DoesTheDogDie to work out when I need to close my eyes/hide under my seat.
All I will say here is that, if not for Mitchell’s intervention, Juan Salvador would have turned up his flippers on that beach in Uruguay.
I would strongly encourage bearing that in mind towards the end of the film and stuffing your pockets with tissues as a precautionary measure.
Given recent events in the US, I am very much looking forward to the sequel …“The Penguin Tariffs”.
Jo Barry
The Penguin Lessons opens in cinemas Thursday, April 17th. Click here for tickets and showtimes.
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