The Penguin Lessons

The Penguin Lessons

The Penguin Lessons, a 2024 comedy-drama directed by Peter Cattaneo, is based on the true story of a penguin rescue and the events that followed, as recounted by Tom Michell in his 2015 memoir by the same title.

English-Irish actor Steve Coogan plays a jaded schoolteacher who goes to teach at a tony British boarding school in Argentina around the time of the military coup that overthrew Isabel Perón and launched the Dirty War. Those dreadful events are just a backdrop, however, to the primary story of the rescue of a tar-soaked penguin who offers the teacher, his colleagues, and his students a “spiritual boost” and pathway to redemption.

Michell explained in a recent joint interview with Coogan that the movie script made the teacher older, more world-weary, and ultimately more compelling than the idealistic young teacher he once was: “Steve brings something to the character which is much more interesting than a 23-year-old because it has color and variety and change.” Coogan, who moviegoers may especially remember from the 2013 Stephen Frears drama Philomena, agreed that rather than make a “cuddly, cute movie about a penguin,” he wanted to have the teacher be more “disengaged and a bit more selfish—and the penguin…becomes a catalyst for my character to learn to be less cynical and a more productive, kind member of society.”

Although one reviewer situates The Penguin Lessons in the same category as Cattaneo’s 1997 hit The Full Monty—namely “small-scale, heartwarming comedies about plucky outsiders”—at Solari, we appreciate it as another movie highlighting the remarkable role that animals play in our lives.

Those interested in Michell’s book might enjoy the audiobook version read by stellar British actor Bill Nighy.