The incredible story of the penguin who lived at Saint George's School in the 1970s: the teacher who adopted him speaks out.

Tom Michell isn't a movie star or a renowned environmental activist, at least not in the traditional sense. He's a retired British professor, a curious traveler, and, unwittingly, the protagonist of a story that crossed continents. In the 1970s, Michell was a young man in his twenties traveling across South America on a Gilera motorcycle. By 1975, he was working as a teacher at St. George's Institute, a prestigious boarding school in Argentina, founded in 1898 in the town of Quilmes.

One day, while on vacation in Uruguay, he witnessed a sad scene: a beach littered with penguins, dead from an oil spill. But among them, only one was moving, barely alive. The mischievous Michell did what a child would do: he took it to the bathroom of the hotel where he was staying and bathed it with shampoo until the animal looked like an English gentleman. No less.

The penguin, later named Juan Salvador after Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull , not only survived, but refused to return to its former life: despite Michell's repeated attempts to return it to the sea, the seabird followed him around like a lapdog. More like a lappenguin, actually. So much so that Tom Michell and Juan Salvador crossed the pond together, the latter hidden in a half-open handbag. From Uruguay to Buenos Aires by ferry, these two ended up as roommates at the British-Buenos Aires school campus for well-to-do kids.

Years later, a decade ago, this story was brought to paper by Michell himself in the book What I Learned from My Penguin ( The Penguin Lessons ) and adapted to film in the movie Lessons from a Penguin , directed by British Peter Cattaneo (known for the successful The Full Monty ). The film opens in theaters on Thursday, July 10 in Argentina, and mixes humor, tenderness and reflection, with the sociopolitical background of the last military dictatorship and the disappearances.

For those who are still amazed, there is a two-minute video on YouTube showing the penguin in the St. George's pool (a small fragment is included at the end of the film).

At 73, Tom Michell, who lived in the country between 1975 and 1979, reports to Ñ Magazine via Zoom from his home in Cornwall, southwest England. He no longer lives with a penguin, but he does live with his dog Milly—a name that pays homage to the house he lives in, once a windmill—and with a few geese honking outside his home sweet home .

The last time this Briton visited the country was in 2018, when he visited his former workplace to see if the film adaptation could be made there. Ultimately, due to tax issues, the film was shot in Barcelona and Gran Canaria.

–What initially motivated you to rescue the penguin on that contaminated beach in Uruguay?

–It was an animal in trouble. Anyone would try to help it. It wouldn't have mattered if it had been a dog, a cat, or a pony. I tried to help, that's all I did. But the penguin didn't want to go back to the sea when I tried to release it. It followed me, so I had no choice. I had to bring it back to Argentina. But to make the film, some changes had to be made.

In the book, I describe what I see or what I think. And that doesn't happen in the film, because that monologue has to be turned into a dialogue. To have a dialogue, you need someone to talk to. So there are invented characters. The girlfriend in the film is an invention. He was alone with the penguin. Nor were the other staff members. The penguin never went to class.

–No, because... they do their business everywhere. But there was a terrace in my apartment, and the penguin lived there.

–And there the students saw him.

–They were going to feed him and help with the cleaning.

–How did the students react when they met Juan Salvador?

–Like all children with animals. Animals are very good for them. It gives them the opportunity to exercise responsibility. Animals are great for children growing up to understand how to care for something and take responsibility for another living being. I had no shortage of volunteers to help care for it, especially among those who weren't as good at rugby or academics.

The students who didn't have to go to practice for team games had more time, and Juan Salvador was very good to them. When the film premiered in London, one of the students who was studying at St. George's when I was there was in London and came on the night of the premiere. It was a nice get-together. We'll get together soon for lunch and a catch-up.

–Have you returned to Argentina?

–Yes, in 2015 and 2018, with the goal of writing for the film. And to talk to the school to see if it was possible to shoot the film there. The school agreed, but for financial reasons, it was ultimately recorded in Spain because the taxes are more affordable than in Argentina. It was filmed in Barcelona and Gran Canaria, which was a shame, because it would have been nice to shoot it in Argentina.

–How did the political and social situation in Argentina in the 1970s influence the story you tell?

–It was a difficult time, but I lived in St. George and was isolated from the problems. Before the coup, nothing worked, and inflation was horrendous every month. It was a chaotic situation. At first, after the coup, everything seemed much better. But little by little, I learned about the kidnappings. The Mothers of the Disappeared in Plaza de Mayo seemed incredibly brave to me.

I was a young man who wanted to explore South America. St. George's gave me that opportunity. And I thoroughly enjoyed it for four years. Your country is wonderful; South America is wonderful; the military governments were not. And seeing those women protest in the Plaza de Mayo was incredibly moving.

–The film reflects that context.

–In the book, I describe that background a little, but not much. The film deals with that background more. The reason is that I wrote the book 10 years ago, and the world was a nicer place then than it is today. I'm much more concerned about fascism now than I was a decade ago. So when we made the film, we all wanted to show more of the violence and brutality of fascist governments to remind people how bad those kinds of governments can be. And we're seeing it again now, much more than we were 10 years ago.

The story of Maria's granddaughter [actress Vivian El Jaber ] is fictional, but it's a way of showing and explaining what was happening. In the film, Tom [actor Steve Coogan ] is brave enough to challenge these military officers. But when I was young, I wouldn't have dared say anything to the army or the police; I was too scared. Because the actor is much older than I was, it was possible to put him face to face with one of these officers.