Mary Ann
Every year to celebrate Earth Day, Disney with National Geographic produces a nature film on a particular animal – elephants or big cats or polar bears. This year they did a three-part series on penguins – such delightful little creatures! Their very survival is a challenge in every aspect. Yet, they seem to do it with such a good attitude, a lesson for us all.
There was also another film this spring about a penguin that was both charming and captivating. The Penguin Lessons is a true story about a professor, Tom Michell, from an elite boy’s school, St. George’s, in Argentina during a fascist regime in the 1970s. The professor, a bit of a curmudgeon, is adopted by a penguin that he saves from an oil spill while on a trip to Uruguay. When you are claimed by penguin as one of his peeps, you do not have much choice but to bring it home with you. This is where the story unfolds.
The penguin, Juan Salvador, captures the hearts of everyone he encounters, even taming Michell’s unruly English class. Juan Salvador is a great listener to Michell, the cleaning lady Maria, and eventually the headmaster himself. It was time to end the no pet rule. Michell played by Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce as Headmaster Buckle are naturals for these leading roles and masterfully portray their characters. However, Juan Salvador steals the show in every scene he is in.
This film is far from an animal special. There is an underlying story of the plight of the Argentinian people during a dictatorship. Thousands of people disappeared off the streets and were never seen again. This storyline is portrayed by Maria the cleaning lady and her granddaughter Sofia, a political activist, giving other penguin lessons that are applicable to our world today.
I love independent films – good stories, fine acting, low budget, and usually smacking with charm in one way or another. For the most part they are shown in small, unique theaters throughout the country from the Angelika in NYC to local renovated ones, often a hidden gem, in your local community. You should seek one out to see films like The Penguin Lessons and feel the magic in the dark.
Silver Sage Sisters 