PalCinema Review: The Penguin Lessons

Steve Coogan is great in an entertaining "penguin" film set in Buenos Aires

March 27, 2025

FILM: THE PENGUIN LESSONS

DIRECTED BY: PETER CATTANEO

STARRING: STEVE COOGAN, BJORN GUSTAFSSON, JONATHAN PRYCE

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

Remember when the documentary March of the Penguins, stole everyone’s hearts and also won an Oscar? One might have thought that there would be more stories about the upright walking birds (other than the Collin Farrell TV series…) But alas, I don’t recall much attention given to them on screen in the intervening years. The Penguin Lessons, which is inspired by a true story, brings at least one of them front and center in a pretty charming film starring Steve Coogan.

It’s 1976 and Tom Michell (Coogan) has been hired to teach English at a boys’ college in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Michell has little interest in the job. He’s a bit unkempt and would rather take a nap then coach the boys’ rugby team. He even admits he is “shallow.” When he arrives at the college a bomb explodes in the distance but Michell is brought into the very tranquil campus which seems to be isolated from the social/political events taking place outside its gates. We hear from the headmaster, played by Jonathan Pryce, that a “military coop is imminent” but even he doesn’t seem particularly concerned about it. Due to the outside violence though the campus is closed for a period of time giving Michell and another faculty member a chance to vacation in Uruguay. While there, Michell meets a woman who takes him for a beach walk where many penguins have gotten stuck in an oil slick. Most are dead but one remains alive and they attempt to rescue him. The majority of the plot then follows Michell as he reluctantly finds himself the penguin’s caretaker. Juan Salvador, as he is named, follows Michell everywhere, eventually ending up in his classroom filled with unruly boys.

There is a sweetness to this story which is its essential primary emphasis. However, the outside military activity does end up having an alarming effect on people around Michell which changes his overall perspective from one of inaction to action.

Most of the film is centered on Michell. Coogan gives the character a laid back, comical edge - reminding me a bit of the character Gary Oldman plays on the TV series Slow Horses. His nonchalant attitude is a lot of fun to watch and listen to thanks also to the various one-liners in screenwriter Jeff Pope’s script. Coogan is an expert at balancing the character’s humor with the slowly revealing deeper layers of Michell. The warmth and sensitivity that he develops comes in part from his connection to Juan Salvador and also from the encroaching military activity. They essentially “wake him up.”

If there was an Oscar to be given for animal performance, the penguin playing Juan would certainly be in the running! He has a personality that is a joy to watch. Cameras provide close-ups of his face and the slight movements of his head as if he is truly reacting to the various situations around him. On occasion, he seems to also speak (in true penguin tongue as opposed to a Disney-styled voice-over.) Some of the best scenes feature Michell and others having individual, obviously one-sided, conversations with Juan Salvador in which he appears to be intently listening.

As much as we might like to only see that sweet side of the story the film does have a political bend which is rather underdeveloped. A couple of characters are “taken away” by military officials. Where they go is never clearly revealed but it does provide Michell some spark and thus an arc to the character and film. Do we need more than this? Maybe, as the overall context of what is happening in Argentina at the time will likely be lost on most viewers.

Still, the reason to see this film is Coogan’s performance and the many great scenes featuring Juan Salvador. The isolated world of the college campus may not be fully aware of what is going on outside its gates but the setting is reflective of the places we all create that attempt to keep us from feeling the pain of the outside world. In this case, it makes the film more entertaining than deep but sometimes we need that.

The Penguin Lessons opens theatrically today.

Do want to see it?

For the archive of PalCinema reviews, click here.