Number 141 on IMDb's Top 250
Three interconnected stories about the different strata of life in Mexico City 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 dogfighting. 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. Hilarity ensues.
Trivia: The car crash sequence was shot with nine simultaneous cameras, including two on adjacent rooftops and one hidden in a trash barrel. A stunt driver was in the black car, while the model's car contained a remote-controlled animatronic dummy. A practice run caused the black car to accidentally tear the rear bumper off the model's car, but since it was getting late, it was stuck back on and the shot attempted. This time the model's car spun around, overshot its projected target by at least 100 meters, and smashed into a taxicab parked by the side of the road. This take was used in the final print. Unlike most films, a disclaimer stating that no animals were harmed in the making of the movie comes at the beginning instead of being buried in the credits (which is good because a lot dogs were "killed" in the movie).
Each of the three stories contained at least one dog. Perro is Dog in Spanish. These dogs didn't fair very well. One was stuck under a floor in an apartment for several days (it really seemed like a long time). One was fought in dog fights before getting shot, then was in the car that got into a crash, then it was rescued and nursed back to health by the homeless man, El Chivo, before brutally killing all of El Chivos stray dogs. This movie really had some very vicious graphic dog fighting in it that really made me a little uneasy. El Chivo really became the soul of the movie. It was a good movie, except the dog fighting was pretty hard to get through.
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