Pedro

Pedro ~ By the time of the San Francisco season of MTV’s “The Real World,” most of the people I knew were well aware of the AIDS crisis and quite honestly had been since the early 1980s. The rest of the world however, unless they actually knew someone with the disease, were unaware until it came right into their living rooms with Pedro Zamora in 1994.

For various reasons, whether it was the openly gay and HIV-positive Zamora, or the nearly sociopathic bike messaenger Puck Rainey, or the then-fledgeling comic book creator Judd Winick – San Francisco is still widely considered to be the most memorable and popular season of all “The Real Worlds.” It should be noted, that Pedro Zamora died from complications of AIDS just hours after the airing of the season finale of the series. His roommate Winick continued his work lecturing on HIV/AIDS, and later created the graphic novel, Pedro and Me.

A few weeks back, in a simultaneous premiere on both MTV and Logo, Nick Oceano’s Pedro debuted. Introduced by former President Clinton and starring relative new comer Alex Loynaz in the title role, the telefilm tells the story of Pedro and his journey to “The Real World” as a hero to his community with flashbacks to his past. It’s a heartwrenching story, and the first movie in a while to bring a tear to my eye. A powerful film with a message that endures. Highly recommended.



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