Penguin Lessons, The

image for Penguin Lessons, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 13; parental guidance to 13 (adult themes, coarse language)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Penguin Lessons, The
  • a review of Penguin Lessons, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 22 April 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 13 Not suitable due to adult themes and coarse language.
Children aged 13 Parental guidance recommended due to adult themes and coarse language.
Children aged 14 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Penguin Lessons, The
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Coarse language
Length: 122 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Set in 1976 Buenos Aires, Argentina, against a backdrop of a military coup, Tom Michell (Steve Coogan) arrives at St George’s elite school to take up a position as English teacher. Tom has travelled to South America to escape the tragic events of 17 years ago, when his daughter lost her life at the young age of 13 after being hit by a drunk driver. Tom has never been able to get over this loss and subsequent break up of his marriage. Unfortunately, Tom finds the school oppressive and elitist and decides to travel to Uruguay for a weekend getaway.

While there, Tom meets a woman in a nightclub with whom he takes an evening stroll along the beach. They come across a terrible scene of dead penguins killed by an oil spill. Amazingly, they find a small penguin alive and decide to rescue it (against Tom’s better judgement). The penguin is then named Juan Salvador and it becomes a transformative feature in Tom’s life. Tom also takes Juan into his English lessons, much to the delight of the boys and against school policy. Ultimately, Juan also has a transformative effect on the boys, who love having Juan in the classroom.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Grief and healing; Argentina Military Coup.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • A sudden loud explosion, when a bomb goes off, is seen in the distance.
  • Armed guards stand at the school gates.
  • Soldiers with armed rifles on the streets.
  • Tom gets knocked over accidentally by Maria, the cleaning lady.
  • The boys leave a drawing pin on Tom’s chair, which he sits on. He yells and the boys all laugh.
  • Juan bites Tom when he’s trying to wash him.
  • Tom throws Juan into the sea in an attempt to get him to go away.
  • The boys bully a particular boy called Diego. They remove his tie and tie his hands to a chair.
  • Maria’s granddaughter, Sofia, is abducted off the street by two men who physically drag her screaming into a car.
  • Tom approaches the man who had abducted Sofia but the man threatens Tom and orders him to leave immediately. Tom is later arrested. When he is allowed to leave, his face is covered in bruises.
  • A main character dies.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • The dead penguins are very upsetting.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Sofia had been talking to the local butcher, a young man, who was wanting her to join the resistance movement. She declined but they were both arrested for supposed crimes.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Tom is badly scarred by the death of his daughter and lives in a state of numbness and disillusionment. This could be disturbing, particularly to those in a similar circumstance.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Pepsi Cola.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Tom says he helped to rescue Juan to impress the woman he met, hoping to have sex with her. The woman had gone out for ‘some fun’ but found she couldn’t go through with it because she was married.
  • Tom discusses with his colleague why his wife had left him. He says maybe the other man had a “bigger cock”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Tom and the woman kiss.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Drinking at several events, in clubs, at dinner, at home, etc.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • ‘Los Fascists Bastardos’ is graffitied on the school wall.
  • Shit
  • Fuck and fucking
  • Christ
  • Jesus
  • Bastard
  • Crap
  • Damn
  • Hell.
  • Name calling such as:
    • Little turd
    • Mummy’s boy
    • Fatty
    • Socialist rat
    • Socialist pig
    • Fascist puta.

In a nutshell

The Penguin Lessons is based on a true story and a book of the same name, set against the backdrop of an Argentinian Military Coup, during which 30,000 people disappeared and are still missing. The movie deals with heavy themes of grief and despair but also the delightfully transformative effect of healing by an unexpected interaction with a penguin. Due to its themes, the movie is best suited to 14-year-olds and over.

The main messages from this movie are that true friendship means being able to see beyond superficial faults and to learn to open up to others about one’s deep feelings.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Empathy
  • Caring for nature and the environment
  • Standing up for what you believe in
  • Forgiveness of yourself
  • Learning to deal with grief
  • The courage of your convictions.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Tom was initially reserved and cowardly, unable to help Sofia as he watched on while she was being abducted. He knew that if he went to help, he would be arrested too. Does this excuse him for doing nothing? Later he comes to regret his decision and tries to intervene in her release but should he have been more pro-active from the start?