The Penguin Lessons
The Penguin Lessons
The absurdity of working with children and animals is an idea embedded in the film industry. For different reasons, these days, animals in particular have been replaced by CGI. Still, filmmaker Peter Cattaneo ignores these rules for his entry to TIFF24 with The Penguin Lessons.
Cattaneo’s work immerses us into the thick of the chaos…political and personal. It is the year 1976, and it is Buenos Aires – a city in turmoil. Tom (played by a witty Steve Coogan) is a teacher living and working abroad and who is very cynical, quite jaded, and wants to escape his all boys english teaching manners somewhere in the private high school system.
Here he gets to know his headmaster- a no-fluff Jonathan Price and his colleague, a genuinely awkward but well-meaning Bjorn Gustafsson. So during a night out with the guys, back at the domestic stick out party and having spent a night dancing, a wonderful opportunity for romance, as convenient as it gets, Tom finds a penguin suffocated in an oil slick, desperately seeking assistance and opening himself to a new kind of love.
Tom’s life is filled with chaos one time after the other, courtesy of his penguin friend, who he names himself after the character of popular children’s book, Juan Salvador, about a seagull yearning for freedom and a chance to be different.
As time passes, he becomes closer to the creature leading him to meet people whom he has locked himself away from including his colleagues and caring personnel in the school. One can’t help but feel a smile blossom upon their face after witnessing such scenes, and for animal lovers such as myself, watching adorable little chubby angles is truly breathtaking.
The film also dares to address in a more subdued manner a difficult and indeed painful aspect of history that is currently salient today and concerns the people that went gallantly missing during the time of the authoritarian rule known as the ‘Dirty War’ in Argentina which was waged on the pretext of communism. Such topics tend to be swept under the rug and so I welcome the film’s open approach, for many of those people who went missing tend to this day remain missing.
One of the things Cattaneo also does flawlessly is demonstrate the different views on the war, whether it was children from wealthy families, secret freedom fighters, or everyone in between. In particular, The penguin lessons paints a picture of what these stubborn sons of bitches would do: open up rebellion in the streets, fight for freedom covertly, or have the audacity to stand up in a manner that we used to.
Tom shows that he’s been plucked and battered and initially he’s afraid to speak up for people and express his views against the war, but as we see his transformation due to Juan Salvador, he gets to know himself and together with this new self comes strength to be the man he is and speak out.
Nonetheless, the film’s real center lies in the form of Steve Coogan. His sophisticated humor is caricature approriate but so is the soul of a man who seems towards the end of his rope at least in terms of his zest for life. It is worth appreciating the way Coogan bonds with his penguin alter ego during meals or during their ‘class’ lessons wherein Juan Salavador is more of a teaching assistant or when Compson gives them their screaming therapy and which allows the indescribably private Compson to read between the lines of parents and people out of parents or the understanding of sorrow over a child – One that has lost their child.
This jealousy towards the world has made him cut off ties with everyone and everything but the hush of his pet allows him to express his thoughts. Bit by bit, everything formed him to the person we see, this is something that any spectator comes to understand and know as they live through. During the movie, Tom’s point of view undergoes an overhaul; Mo is not someone who will just exist in the world, he will be passive aggressive and active knowledgeable of the world. What is most inspiring is watching a found family surround an individual who has all the reasons not to believe in love and infact is further amusing the heart.
At the heart of the story, The Penguin Lessons movie provides a glimpse into a period that is more tragic than most. It is a reminder that people can change, they can evolve and they can embrace. A movie that will definitely leave one with warmth, bring smiles while one may coo over the cute animal.
One of the finer aspects of humankind is the capacity to feel for others especially the less fortunate and weaker creatures and the affection that a person has for an animal deserves the praise. As Tom learns, we can all turn to love in the form of compassion, and with a bit of luck, we might find fresh ways to express our love for the next person who may be wanting.
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- Genre: Drama
- Country: Spain, United States
- Director: Peter Cattaneo
- Cast: Steve Coogan, Björn Gustafsson, David Herrero
