Review of "Pedro"

We are given brief glimpses of Zamora acting out as a teenager or confiding to Judd off-camera, but otherwise the Pedro we see is the man with the cause, and ultimately the picture feels somewhat rehearsed and incomplete. Allowing some of Zamora's doubts, weaknesses or shortcomings to show through would have deepened our understanding of him greatly and steered the film away from bordering on hagiography.

Initially I was concerned with the approach of having hired actors giving on-camera interviews in documentary fashion, especially since the actual people involved are so familiar to many of us. And though ultimately that wasn't specifically a concern, the pseudo-doc format does rob the story of some of its emotional immediacy, particularly since Zamora himself is not able to speak.

We're left wondering how and why Pedro decided to dedicate his life to being an AIDS educator and how frightening or challenging it was for him personally to take his cause from classrooms to the national stage.

Alex Loynaz and Pedro Zamora

As Zamora, Loynaz is likable and captures the subject's boyish charm and resolve well. Machado's stubborn but devoted Mily showcases the chops that the actress brought to SFU as Rico's long-suffering wife. As Sean, DaJuan Johnson brings the story a great deal of tenderness and is thankfully given much more screen time than you might expect. It's overall a tough, overwhelmingly earnest story, and his buoyant, optimistic performance is a breath of fresh air.

Biopics are a tough form to pull off. Capturing the life and the work of a man or woman of true substance and presenting it in 90 minutes in an engaging, satisfying narrative is incredibly challenging. Add in the fact that in Pedro, the subject lived on-camera through the most pivotal moments, that his life lasted only 22 short years, and that the subject was all too aware that the time he had remaining was rapidly dwindling.

While Pedro may not give us much insight into the Pedro Zamora the man, the film does a good job of introducing a new generation to Pedro Zamora the activist, and to the enormous steps he took in representing gay men, men of color and people living with HIV to mainstream America. And while the film is a better chronicle of Zamora's work and accomplishments than it is a celebration of his life and spirit, it is an effort well worth watching.

Check out the trailer for Pedro below.