La familia Bloom

"It's like Mum was stolen from us." Noah (Griffin Murray-Johnston)

Shamelessly sentimental, yes; simply striking, yes. After the confining tyranny of a pandemic, it's time to be freed by a true story, Penguin Bloom, of loss and redemption that may bring tears (ok, it will) of joy at recognizing heroic humans just like us living through even worse than a raging COVID and past president. Narrated by tween Noah, Penguin Bloom makes you face the reality of loss while it frees you up to soar like a bird when you embrace humanity once again.

Dispel your fears about Nicolas Sparks or Hallmark sentimentality, for this Australian drama is about a mother, Sam Bloom (Naomi Watts), who breaks her back and the hearts of a loving family, only to be redeemed by a kayak and squawking Magpie (Gerry, Clipper, and Eugene). It hits hard about the sacrifices everyone suffers after such a tragedy and the joys of beating back the gloom with the emergence of a life maybe even better.

Penguin Bloom, aka Peng, a Magpie of exceptional wit (an Oscar for this bird, anyone?), finds a home with the Blooms for as long as nature will allow. My English major readers will spy immediately the metaphoric nature of Peng paralleling Sam's imprisonment and release. Peng's constant complaints (she is a Magpie after all) echo Sam's despair over her loss of freedom while both, with each other's help, live to fly another day. The move from inside the house early on to the gorgeous Australian outside is an obvious reflection of bird and mom taking flight. Cliché, yes, maudlin, no.

Director Glendyn Ivin carefully keeps our tears back while he accurately shows the struggles and triumphs of living with a disability. Along the way husband Cameron (Andrew Lincoln) earns major stripes as caregiver and super dad. Again, the feel is real; no one could doubt his love for his family and his willingness to give up his freedom for theirs. Everybody wins.

In the drama genre Penguin Bloom is a good movie. So if that's the genre you like the most you can't really go wrong with this movie. It's not my favorite genre but nevertheless I liked it as well. It's a gripping story, based on true events (pictures from the real Blooms in the end credits), played perfectly well by Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln (finally in something better than The Walking Dead), and their kids in this movie. But the star of the show (or should I say stars as there were ten different ones) is definitely the magpie. That's what makes this movie enjoyable to watch, at least for me as an animal lover. The story can be a bit cheesy at times but the magpie made that all seem futile. The fact that it's based on a true story makes it a bit special, like always with these kind of stories.

I feel the critics are far off the bat with this one. Perhaps they have not been invested in this magical experience like those of us who have grown watching this story.

I've been following Penguin Bloom on Instagram for years now, since Penguin was still with the Bloom family.

This film captures this family's story well. Ignore the critics and those without the context.

A beautiful film.

While Glendyn Ivin's based-on-a-true-story 'Penguin Bloom' often falls into run-of-a-mill territory of those family dramas about overcoming physical and mental struggles, the film succeeds in engaging the emotions, both in times of overbearingness and those of joy and ambition. Naomi Watts delivers a strong, impactful performance with the rest of the cast is made up of strong performers but have little things to do. In addition to the performances, the cinematography and background score are great and ties the movie together.

I'm a para, like Sam Bloom in the movie. About the same level, too--T6 ,T8. But not as a result of the same sort of accident. I've been in a chair a little longer, going on 33 years now. I've found movies depicting disability of one kind or another usually contrived but this one was refreshingly not so and rang true to me. At least for folks like Sam and I with paraplegia. I have many friends that are quadriplegics, and they do not share the same abilities that we do. Despite that, dealing with a major disability when you have a family (I had 2 kids, ages 3 and 1 when my illness struck) is hard. Luckily family and a few good friends helped me move on, and so did my old Lab, Rocky, along with my love for the water and sports. So this movie hit home for me. Hopefully those who watch it will never suffer similar circumstances as Sam or I have endured, but if you live long enough you'll probably have someone close to you that will. The movie tells a good story about the hurdles and triumphs we all face at one time or another, If you find the movie boring, well, watch it again. In 20 years...