The unique relationship between animals and people is a territory often mined for cinematic fodder; the twist in “The Penguin Lessons,” based on the 2015 memoir by Tom Michell, is in the exoticism of both the animal and the setting, though the message imparted is indeed familiar. Adapted for the screen by screenwriter Jeff Pope (“Philomena,” “The Lost King”) and directed by Peter Cattaneo (“The Full Monty”), the creative team behind the film is well versed in presenting offbeat human interest stories with humorous and gently effective messaging — and a distinctly British sense of humor.
When Tom (Steve Coogan) arrives in Buenos Aires to teach English to the privileged teenage boys at St. George’s College, it’s on the eve of the military coup in 1976, which he takes in stride with a stiff upper lip and healthy dose of cynicism. We don’t know much about him except that he’s only interested in keeping his head down and out of trouble. He doesn’t have much interest in his pupils, the harrowing political situation or even friendships. On a bus to Uruguay for a weekend jaunt to avoid the coup, Tom’s forthright Finnish colleague Tapio (Björn Gustafsson) says he likes his new friend Tom, who sighs, replying, “You do? I don’t.”
It’s on this fateful trip to Punta del Este that Tom’s life begins to change, after a night out with a beguiling woman (Micaela Breque). Wandering the beach at sunrise, they discover an oil slick studded with penguin carcasses. His new acquaintance persuades him to take one of the surviving birds back to his hotel in an attempt to save it, then dashes, leaving him with the now-clean penguin. Try as he might to ditch his feathered companion, the penguin will not leave him alone, so Tom smuggles the bird back to Argentina and into his campus apartment, mostly because no one else wants to deal with a loose penguin.
The standard heartwarming and humorous animal story unfolds as the penguin — eventually named Juan Salvador — forces Tom out of his grumpy, bored existence. The care, feeding and hiding of this creature force him to open up to those around him, like Maria (Vivian El Jaber), the campus cook and cleaner, and her granddaughter Sophia (Alfonsina Carrocio), a radical lefty who urges Tom to take a more active role in not just his politics but as a member of the community. “I expect bad people to do bad things,” she says. “But when good people do nothing, I could punch them in the face.”
Juan Salvador also becomes Tom’s way into bonding with his unruly students, wrangling their scattered attentions with the unusual (and adorable) animal. He finds the inspiration to teach them quietly radical poetry, much to the chagrin of the school’s headmaster (Jonathan Pryce). The little penguin becomes a kind of mascot, a very cute creature for them to rally around and a therapist of sorts.
Juan Salvador forces Tom to connect with others, and through this, he finds his spine, supporting his new friends while they endure the turbulent and terrifying times of Argentina’s military dictatorship. Cattaneo and Pope manage to balance the tone of a dramatic historical depiction of fascism with a charming animal story and their secret weapon is Coogan. His bone-dry delivery makes it so that the sour is never too sharp and the sentimental is never too syrupy. Even in moments of deep sadness, he’ll crack a rueful joke, and when he lets Tom’s vulnerability show, we see the effort that it takes for this man to stick his neck out.
“The Penguin Lessons” is fairly formulaic — it hits the beats you expect it to, exactly when you expect it to hit them — but it is a stirring yarn, made all the better being based on a true story. Thankfully, Cattaneo opted to cast a real bird (actually a pair of them). The thought of Coogan acting opposite a CGI penguin is chilling.
Perhaps we don’t need the reminder that our personal relationships with animals are some of the most special and rewarding ones that we can enjoy as human beings, but “The Penguin Lessons” also underscores that our relationships with people are even more important and that sometimes animals are the best stewards for this particular journey. Juan Salvador is certainly one of the more memorable ones.
Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
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