Pedro (José Luis García-Pérez) is an attractive gay dentist who lives a cosmopolitan life in Madrid. He's a well adjusted, kindly, and independent "bear" who thinks nothing of having his two best friends have sex in his bed while he takes a shower--sometimes even participating in a threesome. His older sister Violeta (Elvira Lindo), an ex-hippie, leaves her son Bernardo (David Castillo) to stay with Pedro when she impulsively decides to take a two-week jaunt to India with her latest boyfriend.
Soon the two form a strong attachment and their life together seems to be going well. Bernardo cooks for Pedro, but his nephew's presence forces him to take a break from his otherwise extremely active sex life. Even his boyfriend Manuel (Arno Chevrier), who suddenly pays Pedro a visit and who shares his penchant for leather and latex, is basically rejected. But when Doña Teresa (Empar Ferrer), Bernardo’s paternal grandmother, arrives on the scene, she begins to resent Pedro's closeness with the boy. Doña is a lonely and embittered old woman who blames Violeta for her son's drug-related death. She's also eager to re-establish a bond with her grandson, who doesn't like her. She's concerned about the influence that Pedro may be having on the boy and wants to take over Bernardo's upbringing by sending him to a private school in Valencia where he can learn English. The boy, however, is reluctant to leave his uncle and vows to stay with Pedro.
News arrives that Bernardo’s mother has been arrested in India for drug smuggling. She may be facing a prison sentence of thirty years, and Pedro is just as shocked at this news as Bernardo. Nevertheless, he realizes that he is now responsible for the boy. There suddenly are so many things to organize, such as repairs to the house and finding a school for the boy, that Pedro hardly misses the life he used to lead. Gradually he succeeds in rekindling his sex life, but in a less excessive form.
Then Doña demands custody of Bernardo. After illegally obtaining his medical history revealing that Pedro is HIV-positive, and hiring a private investigator who obtains pictures of Pedro at a gay club, she threatens him with both. Pedro lets her put Bernardo in a boarding school. When his grandmother goes to visit him and reveals Pedro's HIV status, Bernardo says that he already knew and that his mother is HIV-positive as well. She then reveals that Pedro is in the hospital with pneumonia. He tells her that he hates her and that it's her fault that he's in the hospital, because he wasn't there to care for him.
Three years pass, letters go back and forth between Pedro, Bernardo, his mother, and his grandmother. We then see Bernardo and his friends at a funeral, and a casket being lowered. Shortly after, a cab pulls up with Pedro in it, out of the hospital and healthy, then revealing that it was the grandmother's funeral they were attending. After a brief conversation, Bernardo goes and hugs and kisses his friends goodbye, then he and his uncle reunite and ride away in the cab together.
"Cachorro" defies all expectations and never passes judgment on any of the characters, not even on the villainous Doña Teresa. And there's no puritanical scorn about Pedro's supposed inappropriateness as a guardian and role model. In fact, Pedro goes out of his way to live his life as he would a single man: We see him going to bars, cruising back rooms, flirting with shop attendants in front of Bernardo, and even inviting his friends over for marijuana and coke-induced gatherings. The film also explores Pedro's relationship with a flight attendant and part-time lover who wants a commitment that Pedro is unwilling to make. Throughout all of this Bernardo is either oblivious to what is going on, takes it all in his stride, or even offers Pedro romantic advice.
There's a lot of love among Pedro's "bears", and though the movie is occasionally over-talky and light on the drama, there's still lots of warmth and humor. It's an important movie, groundbreaking because we are given an intelligent and perceptive insight into a part of the gay community that has been marginalized by the wider gay community. Bears are a sub-culture that have received little or no recognition in gay-themed movies. However, one viewer commented, "Don't be deceived by the blurb, because this isn't a nice gay film at all. On the surface it appears frothy, but underneath it's a sleazy film of betrayal, deceit, and a man's lost love that he'll never get back. It has it's funny moments, most of which you'll have seen on the trailer, but the rest is a gritty, rather sad little down-beat film that'll appeal to those who like it real." Lucio Godoy composed the incidental music. The screenplay was written by Salvador García Ruiz and Miguel Albaladejo, who also directed. In Spanish with English subtitles. The Spanish word "cachorro" describes any young, furry animal such as a cub or puppy, and the English title is "Bear Club".
