This week’s movie was especially well-written, but not for the faint of heart.

I was squirming in my seat the whole time.

Full of death, violence, blood, and gore.

I hated it.

And the worst part is that I knew it would be bad.

That film is none other than Amores Perros.

The opening scene throws us straight into the chaos, introducing Octavio and his friend Jorge, both covered in blood and fleeing a high-speed car chase.

You might ask:

“If you hated it so much, why did you keep watching?”

Simple.

I waited until the last minute to pick a movie again.

If I wanted something to review that week, I had no choice but to keep my eyes open, brace for the worst, and keep it pushing.

That being said, let’s get it!

Set in Mexico, Amores Perros unfolds in a non-linear fashion.

The story is told from three different perspectives, each revealing how the fatal car accident came to be.

We first meet two brothers, Ramiro and Octavio, along with the woman caught between them, Susana.

Susana is Ramiro’s wife and Octavio’s occasional lover.

Through their relationship, we slowly learn who Susana really is.

Now, let me be clear.

I’m not saying Susana deserved the abuse she suffered, and it’s understandable that she sought comfort in Octavio.

But I still take issue with some of her behavior.

Ramiro doesn’t seem like the kind of man who is easy to escape once you’re involved with him.

And deeply involved she was—one child already born and another on the way.

What I kept asking myself was:

How did she get involved with Ramiro in the first place?

Octavio claims he met her first, yet somehow she ended up with his brother.

Maybe she likes bad boys.

Maybe she thought she could fix him.

Who knows?

But she must have known something about his reputation.

It makes me question Susana’s own judgment.

I don’t like how she constantly plays Miss Moral after willingly participating in this whole mess.

She knew exactly how Octavio felt about her, and she continued taking his money while benefiting from his feelings.

By no means am I absolving Octavio of responsibility, but she certainly wasn’t innocent either.

One thing she says does stick with me, though:

“If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

Octavio’s mother and her grandson are honestly the people I pity most in this entire situation.

Next, we have Daniel.

Daniel leaves his wife for his model mistress, Valeria.

At that point, his marriage is little more than a roommate arrangement, with the only remaining connection being their two daughters.

The affection is long gone, and the void has been filled by Valeria.

Unfortunately for Daniel, reality arrives quickly after the accident.

Valeria loses her modeling career when her leg is amputated after gangrene sets in.

I know we were all thinking it when the accident happened, but you shouldn’t celebrate bad things happening to people.

Still, history has shown time and time again:

You often lose them the same way you got them.

Hopefully, that’s not always true.

Lol.

Finally, we have El Chivo.

An ex-professor turned mercenary, El Chivo was easily my favorite character.

He lives apart from society, caring little for most people and spending his days with his dogs while quietly longing to reconnect with his daughter.

Yes, he’s still a criminal.

But I wasn’t even mad that he got away.

A good villain deserves his flowers, and that is especially true for El Chivo.

The way he handled his final assignment?

Michelin star.

Chef’s kiss.

My biggest question, however, concerns the two brothers he kidnaps.

The film paints them as a Cain-and-Abel type pair, but I had to rewind when one brother explained why he hated the other.

Did I hear that correctly?

We out here doing that in the streets of Mexico?

Ninjas is nasty.

Lol.

There’s no love lost between me and dogs, but even I can admit that dog fighting is a horrific crime.

It’s no wonder Cofi eventually killed El Chivo’s beloved dogs.

Dogs are territorial animals.

Leaving them together in that environment was always going to end badly.

That kind of environment would drive anyone mad, much less an animal whose instincts tell it to fight and survive.

Honestly, that scene upset me more than most of the human deaths.

Anypoops, I give the film 4 out of 5 rose petals.