EXCERPT FROM BOSTON GLOBE ~ Anyone who watched MTV's "The Real World: San Francisco" in 1994
probably feels a bond with the late Pedro Zamora. He was the rare
reality star whose modesty and appeal triumphed over the contrivances
of the genre, a kid whose passion to connect, to raise awareness about
AIDS, and, finally, to live, was easy to admire. With his thick
eyebrows, his wry eyes, and his relentless zeal for honesty, Zamora was
ever the endearing younger brother. Certainly, that was one of his biggest accomplishments as an
HIV/AIDS educator, that he provided the entire MTV audience with one of
its first openly HIV-positive and proudly gay young men. But there was
more to Zamora, who died in 1994, the day after the last episode of
"The Real World: San Francisco" aired. And little of that Zamora is
evident in MTV's new biopic, "Pedro," aired last night at 8. This is the kind of
lazy life story that runs through a few notable moments, tries to wring
a few tears, and never captures the person and the heroism that led to
the making of a biopic in the first place. I'd say that "Pedro"
is the movie equivalent of a Wikipedia entry, except that Zamora's
Wikipedia page has more to offer than this shallow effort.
Surprisingly, "Pedro" was written by Dustin Lance Black, the
Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Milk." In "Milk," Black and director Gus
Van Sant brought us a full sense of Harvey Milk's personality quirks
and charisma, as well as his role in history. At the end of that movie,
when I saw the real Milk, I felt as though I'd just spent time with
him. In "Pedro," Black and director Nick Oceano give us a guy who looks
slightly like Zamora (Alex Loynaz) but who evokes none of Zamora's
spirit. And then they rely heavily on disease-of-the-week cliches to
add some narrative structure. When the real Zamora appears in a clip at
the very end, I felt an awkward disconnect. The emphasis on
re-creating scenes from "The Real World: San Francisco" in "Pedro" is
perhaps the biggest misstep. By scripting and restaging moments from
the San Francisco house, the filmmakers seem to be elevating and
promoting "The Real World" in a way that does not serve the story of
Zamora. And then it's jarring and a little ridiculous to watch actors
portraying reality characters, especially indelible ones such as Puck
(Matt Barr) and Rachel (Karolin Luna). The mind reels during these
sequences - actors playing real people who were playing characters but
who were nonetheless real. This isn't supposed to be a movie about
layers of truth and reality TV; it's about an extraordinary person. CONTINUE READING...