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This week at The Tryon Theatre is “The Penguin Lessons,” a film inspired by true events as captured in the memoirs of teacher Tom Michell. This film is directed by the talented Peter Cattaneo, best known for his terrific 1997 film, “The Full Monty.” Cattaneo has a proven track record of crafting films where the characters and conversations are charmingly mundane, allowing for an authenticity of sentiment to be felt by the viewer. At the same time, his films are sweetly and optimistically funny, with a tender heart of comedy underwriting any weight or darkness of the narrative’s historical setting. “The Penguin Lessons” is a perfect example of Cattaneo’s cinematic brand, with surface-level charm and humor that quickly delves far deeper than the film’s accessible quirk. 

“The Penguin Lessons” is a close adaptation of Michell’s own experiences. However, certain liberties are taken in the casting of Michell, with the wonderful Steve Coogan. The film trades in Michell’s relative youth at the time of the events for an actor whose compelling earnestness and gravitas land more effectively, given his increased age. 

Coogan is at his best here, tapping into a restrained and tender vulnerability in his portrayal. He weaves a complex tapestry of emotions in his character, the arrogance and authority of his occupation, in constant contest with his innate insecurity and fear of change. Michell’s entire world is defined by contained boundaries, both the metaphysical of his routine and the physical of his campus-bound existence, with the unexpected incorporation of a penguin dissolving those long-maintained walls. 

The private boys school at which Michell teaches is located in Argentina, with the story set during the tumultuous political upheaval of 1976, a year that saw the culmination of boiling tensions in the Argentinian coup d’etat. At the film’s opening, Michell, as a British citizen, is aloofly removed from the violence and chaos of the political powder key beneath his feet. He is more concerned with his scheduled school holiday and the hopeful anticipation of finding romance. In this preoccupation of mind and heart, Michell stumbles into the guardianship of an injured penguin, a situation largely thrust upon him and one that irrevocably shapes his life and his philosophy. 

As expected with animal-centric films, there is a great comedy of errors derived from Michell’s lack of experience and the penguin’s stubborn determinism. The slowly developed bond of affection and trust between man and animal surely tugs at the compassionate heartstrings of the audience. Surprisingly, this deepening bond of two lonely figures also provides a moving commentary on the duty we have in our lives to do what is right, no matter the inconvenience or danger it poses to our own bubble of existence.