Apr 03, 2009  |  By: Dan Renzi  | COMMENTS     

Long after the last episode of “The Real World San Francisco” aired, the life of cast member Pedro Zamora comes to life once again in MTV’s biopic “Pedro,” which premiered Wednesday.

The first HIV-positive character on TV, Zamora captured the hearts of millions of viewers as a cast member of “Real World,” allowing cameras to film the goings-on of his daily life in San Francisco. He spent his time on the show working as an AIDS activist, as well as fostering a budding relationship with his boyfriend. As a result, he received international acclaim for putting a face to the disease, and then-President Bill Clinton publicly praised Zamora with personalizing the epidemic.

Regardless of his time on MTV, however, Zamora’s life was an extraordinary journey. Born in Cuba, he was among 125,000 refugees who fled the country in the Mariel Boat Lift of 1980 and he settled with his family in Miami. His mother died of cancer when he was 14; when he was 17, he tested positive for HIV and went on to become one of the world’s foremost HIV/AIDS activists before suffering from a neurological disorder that ultimately took his life. It is this story, beyond what the “Real World” cameras were able to capture, that laid the groundwork for the film.

“Pedro” was produced by Bunim-Murray Productions, the company behind “The Real World,”  and the film’s producers were the same people who worked on Zamora’s season of the MTV show. As a result, they knew Zamora intimately. While the story could have been told more eloquently if it were filmed by a major movie studio — Bunim-Murray is renowned for making reality shows on low budgets — the film is still a loving tribute to the person they knew so well.

Zamora is played by freshman actor and Miami resident Alex Loynaz, who gives a respectful portrayal of the title character. Like Zamora, Loynaz is earnest and energetic and his charisma garners great sympathy as his life winds to an end. His performance, ironically, grows stronger as Zamora’s life deteriorates and he loses the ability to speak; but acting without saying lines is no small feat.

The real star of the film, however, is Justina Machado as Pedro’s sister Mily — both because of her experience on “Six Feet Under” and “ER,” and because the story between Pedro and Mily is so touching. Mily became her younger brother’s parental figure when their mother died, and stuck with him through his final days living at home in Miami. As the true actor in the cast, Machado is given space to spread her wings. She turns in a heart-wrenching performance. Although the end of the story is widely known, it is still a very sad conclusion.

The rest of the cast is a mixed bag. Watching a film with actors portraying actual people can be a distracting experience, as you compare the actor to the real thing. In this film, the portrayals of Zamora’s other “Real World” housemates often become caricatures of the “characters” created for the MTV series. In real-life, former housemate Judd Winnick is smart with a dry wit but performed by Hale Appleman, he’s a bit of a dullard. Real-life Rachel Campos-Duffy is smart and opinionated — she famously objected to living with Zamora before she learned more about his disease, a moment that gave him one of his best platforms. But the movie version, played by Miami resident Karolin Luna,  comes off as a closed-minded ditz.

Matt Barr, formerly of “One Tree Hill,” turns in a sexy and dynamic performance as Puck, the house antagonist.  But the film doesn’t effectively flesh out the bizarre power play that Puck fought with Pedro, as they battled for camera time in the “Real World” house.

Fortunately, the “Real World” scenes are kept to a minimum and the bulk of the film is spent on the rest of Zamora’s life, which is far more interesting. This life story is certainly more complex than what can be smashed into 90 minutes of low-budget filmmaking. But the movie “Pedro” will teach a new audience what it meant to be Pedro Zamora.