by Geoffrey Churchman

It’s an unlikely juxtaposition of themes, but one which actually works: an English teacher in Argentina rescues a penguin from an oil slick on a visit to neighbouring Uruguay, takes it back to Argentina and concludes he has to keep it as a pet; and all the while a military coup is underway,

It is based on true events, although as usual we don’t know exactly how much happened the way it is shown. At the beginning, in March 1976, a middle-aged English teacher, Tom Michell, originally from England, but who has worked his way teaching from Chicago down through South America, arrives at a conservative high school where the teachers live in house, near Buenos Aires. The school, St Georges is for boys from wealthy families.

Tom’s arrival coincides with an explosion not far away: it’s typical South American political termoil.

The principal’s view is they they stay out of politics and do what they are there to do: persuade spoilt brats to learn the lessons. But the coup happens and the school is shut for a week. Tom gets bored with life in the school complex so he and a fellow teacher, a Finn, go to Punta del Este in Uruguay for a few days. He meets a sexy woman in a night club and while walking along the beach they encounter a penguin (pingüino in Spanish) covered in oil from a slick. They take it back to the hotel to clean it. The woman decides she can’t cheat on her husband after all, but he is stuck with the penguin which doesn’t want to leave him.

Giving the penguin to a zoo in Argentina is the obvious thing to do but after visiting one, but he concludes the penguin is better off living at the school, secretly to start with.. He uses it to keep the boys entranced, and the principal is also won over eventually.

Meanwhile the political situation means the granddaughter of the janitor, a 19-year-old Leftist who is in involved in conflict with the fascists gets his interest, but before that gets far, the secret police grab her on the street. The school tries a nice letter to the authorities to get her back, but to no avail. After he tries to persuade one of the agents to release her, he gets a night, and some punches, in a police cell.

The penguin dies after a while, but the girl gets released, and that is the end of the movie.

A penguin isn’t a cuddly toy like a cat or a dog, but there is attachment to any pet and everyone at the school is saddened.

We get a good impression of typical South American politics: ruinous Leftist regimes, replaced with nasty fascist ones. Tom gets paid with a brick of banknotes which must be spent straight away or they’ll be worth half as much in a few days. Things didn’t change much — before Javier Milei, a libertarian, was elected last year there was the usual hyper-inflation.

The characterisation is quite believable, as is the story, and it succeeds in the intent to be as much a comedy as a drama. It will be heartwarming for those who care about animals, without being schmalzy.

The Penguin Lessons (111 minutes) is screening at the Shoreline.