Amores Perros - Alejandro González Iñárritu (2000 )

Amores Perros is a a Mexican film by director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu . The film has attained much critical acclaim and by some it is described as the “Mexican Pulp Fiction”. The film revolves around three interconnected stories about the different strata of life in Mexico City that all resolve with a fatal car accident. Octavio is trying to raise enough money to run away with his sister-in-law, and decides to enter his dog Cofi into the world of dog fighting. After a dogfight goes bad, Octavio flees in his car, running a red light and causing the accident. Daniel and Valeria's new-found bliss is prematurely ended when she loses her leg in the accident. El Chivo is a homeless man who cares for stray dogs and is there to witness the collision. Amores Perros was nominated for the Oscar for Best Forgein Language FIlm in 2000 and won the Ariel Award for Best picture from the Mexican Academy of Film.



Amores Perros is an overlapping consideration of the crises of love as it wavers in and out of quality of life, in both the gutters and penthouses of Mexico City. More striking on the surface is how that theme is explored metaphorically through the egregious mistreatment and abuse of all species of dogs, the double entendre "bitches" of the title. Their graphic deaths and dismemberments were very brutal and realistic .. This illustrates the "canine actors" at work and demonstrates the methods of bloodying them without actually hurting them. The most disturbing of the violent animal scenes take place in the first story that paints a bleak picture of the life of a young man, Octavio, who is drawn to the culture of dog-fighting rings. Octavio's dream is to escape the world of poverty and his abusive brother and rescue not only himself, but also his sister-in-law, Susana, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love. His only hope of raising the money for the escape is to fight his dog, Cofi, a Rottweiler who he discovers is a champion, fighting dog.

I found the story of El Civo to be the most interesting of all. El Chivo's story intertwines with the others at the scene of the fateful car accident. His rescue of Octavio's dog, Cofi, sets the stage for his tale of woe. In several scenes, Cofi appears injured and his wounds bandaged by El Chivo. The trainer explains in the video that the dog is a veteran of many television productions and trained to lie still, wear make-up and do a great many behaviors. The actor mentions in the video that he spent several weeks in pre-training with the dogs to develop the bond that El Chivo has for his dogs. However, El Chivo is not what he appears to be and his history reveals a complex man who has better relationships with his canine family than with his human family.