Penguin Bloom Parent Guide

“Everything was pretty much perfect. And then last year happened…I hate last year.” So says young Noah Bloom (Griffin Murray-Johnston), reflecting on the end of his idyllic family life, shattered along with his mother’s spine in a freak accident. Paralyzed from her mid-back down, Sam Bloom (Naomi Watts) is mourning the end of the life she loved and struggling to mother from a wheelchair. Then her three boys bring home an orphaned baby magpie which they name Penguin. Despite Sam’s reluctance to have a noisy, needy pet, Penguin soon seizes space in her heart…and becomes a catalyst for change.

This plot synopsis could hint at a mawkish, trite film, which Penguin Bloom mercifully is not. The story doesn’t go step by step through a psychological checklist and it doesn’t wallow in treacly emotion. What it does is provide an unsparing look at adapting to unexpected disability; not just from Sam’s perspective but from her family members.

Being paralyzed has destroyed Sam’s sense of self, her identity as a playful mother, a nurse, and an accomplished surfer. As she struggles to relearn how to complete basic tasks from a wheelchair she agonizes over the things she can no longer do and laments, “What am I if I can’t even be a mum? I’m nothing.” For Sam, recovery means more than figuring out workarounds in an able-bodied world; it means redefining who she is and what her new life’s goals are going to be. To director Glendyn Ivin’s credit, this isn’t a tidy process but one that seesaws between despair, anger, determination, and hope. In other words, it looks like real life – which is appropriate since it’s based on a true story.

The tale of Sam and Penguin feels authentic on screen thanks to the skills of the cast and eight well-trained magpies. Naomi Watts is suitably expressive as Sam and Andrew Lincoln does a wonderful job as her husband Cameron. He’s loving, worried, helpful, and trying to figure out how to balance supporting Sam while fostering independence. The real star of the film, though, is Griffin Murray Johnston. His innocently accusing face is keenly sensitive to adult lies and evasions and clearly reflects his own grief and misplaced guilt.

With minor content issues – rare profanity, occasional social drinking, and disturbing flashbacks to Sam’s accident – Penguin Bloom allows viewers to focus on its remarkable story. Through Sam’s recovery, the movie emphasizes themes of courage, persistence, and resilience. And as her family navigates their new reality, they also learn lessons about forgiveness, communication, acceptance, and the welding and sustaining power of love.

As the Blooms wonder why Penguin is so slow at learning to fly, Noah speculates, “Baby birds dream of their mother’s song and that’s how they learn to sing. I wonder if they dream of their mothers teaching them to fly too?” As Sam’s sons watch her set down roots in her new life, she gives them – and audiences – a powerful lesson in accepting change, grounding ourselves, and ultimately, learning to fly again.