Amores perros is the expression of a transition, a transition from tradition to modern, but the

situation presented is inception of the modern, when the path has already been chosen. Traditional
elements are in conflict with the modern world, generating conflict and destruction. In this case the
society exanimate is the Mexican one, but the story could have had any other nationality. Break
down of the traditional social ties and conventions are the main cause for all the problems
presented in the film. Realism is the main characteristic of this movie and it is as powerful as it
leaves the impression of reality show (LAWRENSON: 2001). But the important element, which is was
left for the last scene is redemption and hope. The film is indirectly very much political as the
director himself declares (LAWRENSON:2001), it is subjective, but at the same time is as objective as
possible coming from someones perspective.

The film starts with a car accident and continues presenting the past and present lives of the main
characters through a series of flashbacks. The car crash is the moment when their lives interact and
it is also crucial in depicting the founding ideas of the film. There are three main characters: Octavio
is a teenager, in love with his sister in law; Valeria is a famous Spanish model who ends up with an
amputated leg and no career after the accident; and El Chivo, who is the most important, is an
intellectual and former university professor. The narration is not continuous, but it jumps from one
storyline to another, keeping the audience very captivated. Dogs play a very important part in the
events and are present in most of the scenes. The film ends leaving the audience with a sense of
hope, but it is a very uncertain one.

The decay of social values and ties is present in every characters life. Ocatvio is from the lower and
ormer working class. Valeria is the representative o the middle class. El Chivo is the representative of
the high class, not in a financial way, but because of his intellectual statute and his connections with
the business world. The characters are representatives more of a social class than an economic one.
Because it is a transit period at the end of the move we can see hope, although in a very harsh way
and with no certainty, but there is something there in the near future. It is interesting that the only
character who witnesses this redemption is El Chivo, probably because of his visionary statute.
Breakdown of the social ties is present everywhere, family is the most affected and especially the
father children relationship. The only way the characters can find some affection is in the erotic love.
But this very often involves breaking moral values. The only possible pure love is between El Chivo
and his daughter, although unfulfilled, it is the only situation where we can see some light or peace.
Both Octavio and Valeria are part of adultery relationships.

The father is a very important element in the movie. All the characters are involved in some kind of
conflict with their father. Valeria does not want her father to know that she had an accident. We
know very little about Valerias relations with her family and father, but we can clearly see that they
are in conflict. El Chivo has let his family to peruse his dreams o changing the world. He clearly failed,
as he himself declares and he also ends up with no family. He clearly misses his daughter and tries to
make contact with her, but it is too hard for him as he does not have the power to face her directly.
He leaves her money, a picture and a message. We dont know what his daughter is going to make
out of this, but we clearly see that El Chivo has some hope and he starts on a path towards
redemption.

Morality does not have any mention or none o the character areas to be concerned by such issues.
All they want is immediate pleasure and they act in a very selfish way. Octavio does not care about
the fact that Susana is his sister in law, he desires her and he does everything to full this desire. It is
hard to say that he truly loves Susana. He cares about her, but his love is more erotic and
materialistic.

Valeria appears on TV with a fake boyfriend. She does not care that she lies to the audience as long
as this increases the rating. The scene when Andres asks her or lunch we can see fans on the
background, but no one gives any attention to them.

El Chivo kills for money. He was a university processor, and it might be expected o him to show some
morality, but he is dragged in the most profoundly vicious areas of society. He was a believer,
because he left his family to fight for a better world, but he ends up in total decay. He is frequently
presented collecting rubbish from the bins. He has no moral values or any caring feeling for the
society as we can see in the scene of the car accident. He steels Octavios money and the only
creature he cares about is Cofi, which he rescues. He is a hit man and does not show any restraints
from injuring another human being in the pursuit of his own selfish needs. But he has a revelation
and is the only character that shows some elements of possible change for the good.

Religious symbols are present a lot in the film, but none of the characters really believe in their
importance, they are relics of the old order.

The most striking and harsh violent scene are those of dog fights. Although the makers of the film
assure us that no dog has been injured, it is very hard to watch these scenes as they are highly
violent. Violence is more expressed by animals than by humans, but dogs violence is a direct
consequence of human cruelty (LAWRENSON:2001).

The car accident is a very violent scene, although not in a direct way, but more because o all the
blood and the collision of the two cars.

Family violence is very much present in the scenes picturing Octavio and his family. Family violence
is a direct consequence of the continuous conflict between family members and their lack of
scruples in fulfilling their selfish desires. Ramiro and Octavio have violent interactions. Also Ramiro
physically abuses Susana, although this is not directly pictured in any of the scenes.

Redemption is the most important element of the film. We clearly see the current situation and all
its problems and situation of chaos, but at the end there is hope. We dont know what the future will
bring as the path to it looks quite deserted, but as long as there is some hope the possibility of
goodness is a lot more probable. Neither Valeria nor Octavio can see hope. Their plans have been
destroyed and there is a strong feeling of emptiness associated with them. The last scene picturing
Valeria is her looking at the street panel, which is empty after her picture in the Enchant campaign is
removed. Her soul is broken as she loses her main attributes to success. Her beauty is now
compromised by the amputation of her leg. The only character that experiences a change is El Chivo.

Dogs are present in each characters life. Octavios dog Cofi, Valerias Richie and the dog menagerie
that El Chivo posses. The story line is centred on dogs and their interaction with humans. The
animals are used to fulfil or replace something in the characters lives. But at the end the careless use
of dogs is turning against the humans. Although we might say that Valeria and El Chivo do not
mistreat dogs, we can clearly see that their relationship with their pets is not exactly right. Valeria
has an obsession with Richie. We might see it in a comic way, but this is a very serious problem that
she has. El Chivo uses dogs to replace his affectionate relations with other human beings. He cares
more about dogs than he cares about humans, as we can clearly see in the scene of the car accident.
He can easily kill a human, but he cannot kill Cofi, although the latter killed all his favourite dogs. And
this is the starting point of his redemption.

It is interesting to see that in Cofi is present in both the first and the last scene. In the first one he is
injured and surrounded by a violent atmosphere, while in the last one he accompanies El Chivo on
his path towards redemption. It is a suggestion that dogs and love walk together. The only things
that El Chivo remains with are his love for his daughter and Cofi. We humans are an interesting
combination of beauty and beast and both of them are always going to be with us.

The director uses many technical tributes to create the needed atmosphere for picturing his story.
He uses silver tent (LAWRENSON: 2001) to create the grey and depressing atmosphere of Mexico
City. He is also inspired by Nan Goldmans photography in creating the coloration and texture of the
movie.

Amores peros is a magnificent picture of the transitional society of Mexico. But the founding
elements of the movie re not local as all the societies in todays world are in a continuous transit to a
more and more modern world. Violence, social decay and lack of moral and political values
dominate the nowadays urban modern life. Despite all these issues created by the continuous
change, our human society will always see some light at the end of the tune; at least some of us.

References:

LAWRENSON, E. and BERNARDO PEREZ, S., 2001. Pup Fiction, Sight and Sound, 11:5, pp. 28-30

Bibliography:

CANCLINI, NESTOR GARCIA, 1999. Will There Be Latin American Cinema in the Year 2000?, in Ann
Marie Stock (ed.), Framing Latin American Cinema, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp.
246-59

ARROYO, JOSE, 2001. Amores Perros in Sight & Sound, 11:5, pp. 39-40

KING, JOHN, 2000. Mexico Inside the Industrial Labyrinth, in Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in
Latin America, London: Verso, pp. 129-44

SMITH, PAUL JULIAN, 2003. Amores Perros, London: BFI