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Amores Perros

Title: Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch)
Released: 2000

Plot Summary

From director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amores Perros is an extremely well-made movie from Mexico. The first scene indicates that this movie isn't going to be easy to watch: the film opens with a car chase scene, rushing to the hospital to save a dog that's bleeding to death. While on the surface the movie is about dog-fighting, it also weaves together three stories, while providing a social commentary about life in Mexico at all levels of society.

Amores Perros doesn't provide an escape from reality as many films do, but rather dives into it. Many scenes use rough camera-work, florescent lighting, and show characters as they are, like the arranger of dog fights who is fat, sweaty and scratching himself. Even Gael García Bernal (Octavio) looks like an average guy in this movie.

The film leaves you with the feeling of things being too good to be true, observing characters about to get out of their situation until greed gets in the way.

Language Learning Notes

The film is chock-full of slang, which makes it difficult to understand at times.

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