Listen to this teacher and his flightless assistant.
This week, we have two dramedies regarding teachers who manage to spark a relationship with animals. Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s latest entry “The Friend” stars Naomi Watts as a writer and teacher who must take care of a Great Dane. It opens this week in select theaters and will go wider next week. And Peter Cattaneo’s latest film “The Penguin Lessons” stars Steve Coogan as an English teacher who must take care of a penguin. And both these characters struggle to adapt with their new positions, but they learn to cooperate with the animals. At least they don’t have to deal with polar bears or lions.
While “The Penguin Lessons” isn’t as funny or have the supporting character basis as “The Friend,” it still has the lead and his flightless friend having good intentions and they end up being sincere.
The English teacher is Tom Michell (remember that’s Coogan), who is sent to St. George’s College in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the 1976 coup d’etat. Despite some warm greetings from his new employer Headmaster Buckle (Jonathan Pryce), he’s disillusioned with how his life has turned out and he’s not too fond of his students based on how they treat him in class. He feels like Ernest Hemingway, minus the books or money.
Under the urging of his one night stand in Uruguay, he rescues a penguin who is washed up on the beach and covered in oil thanks to a recent spill. For legal issues that neither the film nor the authorities want to talk about, he’s forced to keep the penguin, as he struggles to send it to a zoo.
Like Naomi Watts and the Great Dane in “The Friend,” Tom and the penguin struggle to connect, as this flightless bird refuses to eat canned fish, but they do cooperate, as Juan Salvador becomes a perfect teaching assistant to him. And like that film, he can’t have an animal in his room. So, Buckle says either Tom goes or the penguin goes. But if Tom goes, does that mean the penguin stays? Ha, ha, ha. Good one.
Among the supporting characters in the film, who need a little more than what the screenplay provides for them, Tom’s fellow teacher is the Finnish professor Tapio (Bjorn Gustafsson), who loses his wife and joins him on a fun trip in Uruguay. He seems more upbeat than Tom. There’s also the maid Sofia (Alfonsina Carrocio), who gets taken by the military, and her grandmother Maria (Vivian El Jaber), who worries about her well-being. Before their pathos kicks in, they’re able to help Tom acknowledge the presence of the penguin in his life.
Coogan has proven his serious worth with films like “Philomena,” the “Trip” movies, and “Stan & Ollie,” and he continues his deadpan charms with “The Penguin Lessons.” But he also has his vulnerabilities that makes him likable, as he distinguishes himself based on his emotions. He was sad before, and now he’s happy to be dealing with certain later pathos. At least that’s what Tom says.
Based on the real Tom Michell’s memoir, the film isn’t perfect based on how safe it plays, but it is charming and truthful thanks to how the teacher uses the penguin to tame his rambunctious students. He makes them listen to their lessons through the bird’s perspective. They have to lie on the floor in order to make Jean Salvador the tallest in class. Who says all teaching assistants have to be human?