
To start with, let us take a brief tour of history. Considering the vue of Argentina’s 1976 military coup d’etat one would not expect to read a book about the special relationship between man and animal. This however is what happened to Tom Michell, an English teacher at an exclusive school in Buenos Aires, during one of the tumultuous periods in the country everything was going haywire in the nation and quite a few of his coworkers were in disarray, he was contemplating on what to do with the Magellan penguin he had unknowingly picked up during a weekend trip to Uruguay. Whether he intended it or not, his book titled “The Penguin Lessons” about that time was published in 2016 and covered the vast spectrum from adult to children’s literary tastes in animal stories. The film belonging to Peter Cattaneo is quite cheerful and relaxes the plot, unlike the strip which touches on more pressing subjects. The exotic nuisance who occupies the screen almost constantly, as expected, adorns every episode as well as those few frets that happen to him himself.
Michell Martorell was in his twenties during the period recollected in this book, this adaptation, made by screenwriter Jeff Pope (“Philomena”) for his frequent partner, 58-years old Steve Coogan, is designed for a somewhat older Coogan, and there is some respectably dreary context added as to how an Englishman in his late 50’s could still be aimlessly wondering around South America. It changes the whole story in such a manner that now it sounds more depressing but is still an easy watch with more focus on the gray pound. Coogan injects his always pitch-black comedic slant into proceedings while Cattaneo, in one of his performances since earning an Oscar nomination 27 years ago in the comedic ‘The Full Monty’ combines broad comic lines and thickly washed yellow-filtered melancholic moments.
But from the outset, you can sense the curious tonal division of Coogan’s creation Michell, in the standard seventies garb of a corduroy blazer, slacks, and suede desert boots, is not much pleased as he shows up at the extravagant doors of his new office to find stray workmen attempting to remove graffiti that says “fascists bastards” on the high outside wall. There is a distant rumble of gunshots and bombs; Michell is more upset about the spot of paint acquired on his shoe than anything else. ‘We try to remain above it all’, says stuffy headmaster Buckle (Jonathan Pryce) whose frustration is alleviated by the fact that the new teacher has turned up welcomingly explaining that politics within this sense is unimportant. This mockery is myopic centrism, but yes “The Penguin Lessons” is not going to be revolutionary either.
Somehow, Michell manages to get used to it trying in vain to reach out to the out-of-control students in his class, mechanically performing the role of an incompetent rugby coach, and self-resentingly building a relationship with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept of sarcasm his Finnish colleague Michel (Bjorn Gustafsson). Any political background can be filled in by the school’s widow caretaker Maria (Vivian El Jaber) and her granddaughter Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio) who are much more involved than these Europeans in the chaos that was the Argentine Dirty War. At the time of the coup, however, it is underscored and in fact, for Michell, it is simply a reason for a short and somewhat decadent getaway to Uruguay, in the course of which he, trying to impress his one-night stand, saves a penguin stuck in an oil slick on the beach.
His goal is simply to fix the bird later dubbed Juan Salvador and release him into the wild. However, Juan Salvador will have none of it and stays with his sulky rescuer, which leads him to get a free flight back to Argentina stuffed in a canvas bag. Enter mildly amusing situations as Michell tries to conceal the fact of having an extraordinary pet from border control and later from school, although Juan Salvador is too cute to remain out of sight for that long. Before long, he is participating in lessons while inciting a “Dead Poets Society” like turnaround when Michell, now more passionate, strays from the set instruction to lesson against war poems and his students are many kinds of mesmerized. And this is the achievement of the penguin, and to give credit where it is due, the role of Juan Salvador is supported by what can only be described as a super penguin.
This is very funny material, which is further helped along by Coogan’s ability to maintain an air of superiority even in the ridiculous. In the course of the film, however, things are not as convincing once it tries to touch on tragedy. It is unjust to have Sofia being kidnapped by the military junta in the background as a mere B-plot complication more geared towards feelgood seabirds material, while Coogan struggles to sell his character’s deeper sense of loss. The climax, Michell’s eventual breach of the code of conduct of the school in order to get involved in politics, is not how it should be considering the fact that the film avoids showing the severe impact of the coup and hence doesn’t have immense tension. Those who are content to overlook the wasteland left behind, and instead concentrate on the sights of Juan Salvador may have high hopes for “The Penguin Lessons”, which might keep one captive, although, even if the film is about a penguin, which, in congruence of its name, is indeed the case, it still does not aspire to reach the heights its once outstanding athlete grasps.
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