Amores Perros

Amores Perros is not like most movies, which is why it is so good. The movie actually deals with three different stories that are all connected in some way, unlike another movie that I have mentioned in this blog(Dreams), but lets not go there again. All the stories in this film stand on there own but they are all directly connected with a car accident that is seen in the first scene of the film. There are also other connections such as characters from different stories unknowingly bumping into each other or seeing each other.

The first story is about Octavio and his love for his sister-in-law, Susana. Octavio believes that Susana is being treated unfairly by his brother and wants to run away with her. But there is a problem Octavio has no money, so he decides to join in on dog fighting. This is where a lot of the controversy of the film stems from. The dog fighting scenes in the film are quite brutal and very realistic looking, which disturbed a lot of people who thought that the director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu killed real dogs for his film. But he of course denies this. Anyways, after Octavio makes enough money to run away with Susana, she runs away with her husband with the money. Octavio is devastated and continues his dog fighting until a challenger unfairly shoots Octavio's dog during a fight. Octavio in return kills him and as they are driving away he gets into the car accident, hitting another car.

The next story is about a model, Valeria, and Daniel who leaves his wife for her. Soon after Daniel and Valeria move in together Valeria gets into an accident, when Octavio's car slams into hers. She brakes both of her legs and has to deal with life in a wheelchair. She loses her dog under the floorboard which deeply disturbs her and leads to troubles in Daniel and Valeria's relationship. At the end she has to have her leg amputated after an infection but she finds her dog.

The third story is about this old man who is also sort of a hit man. He lives with a dozen dogs who is basically his family as he has not talked to his daughter in many years. After the car accident he takes in Octavio's dog who is injured and he helps him recover. He is given an assignment to kill someones brother but after Octavio's dog kills all the others he reconsiders and instead creates a confrontation between the two brother. This is one of the most interesting parts of the film. Seeing the brothers duke it out for survival. The story ends with the old man going to his daughters home and leaving her a message telling her that he is still alive. It is a touching moment for the old man who seems to have nothing and so wants to have a relationship with his daughter.

What I really loved about the film was the idea that anything that you do can have repercussion on not just your life but on the lives of people that you do not even know. It was interesting to see how this one car accident effected so many peoples lives and maybe it effected even more people that we didn't even see. The performances in the film where also amazing, the actors really made you understand the internal conflict of the character especially Emilio Echevarriam, who played the hit man. When he found the bodies of all the dogs you really felt bad for him and his performance was fantastic. The only thing I have to say about the film is that if you really love animals the dog fighting scene may be a little tough to watch as it is extremely brutal. Other than that it is a fantastic film that needs to be seen by anybody who loves cinema.

Dreams

"Dreams" was one of those movies that I just didn't really understand. For most of the film I was sitting there and just saying to myself "WHY." I understand what the director, Akira Kurosawa, was trying to do, he was close to the end of his life and he was making a movie that was trying to send a message about how we treat our world. But for some reason after watching all of the films I felt that I had just wasted two hours of my life.

The movie basically tells eight stories that are supposed to be based on dreams that the Kurosawa actually had. Two that stood out from the eight were "The Tunnel" and "Mount Fuji in Red." "The Tunnel" starts with this officer standing outside of this tunnel, when a demonic looking dog comes out of the tunnel and in a way forces him into the tunnel. He walks into the tunnel and at this time we are "graced" with one of the longest walking scenes of my life. It felt like he was walking through that tunnel for a good hour. While he was walking through the tunnel all I could think was one again "WHY!!." Why such a long shot of him just walking! Anyways, when he FINALLY reaches the end of the tunnel he walks out and he turns around to see a ghost of a fallen soldier he was in command of. The soldier does not believe that he is dead until the officer convinces him he is really dead. After the soldier leaves, the ghosts of the whole battalion that the officer was in command in shows up and the officer expresses his guilt towards the fact that he survived and they didn't. The officer orders them to leave and the dog comes back from out of the tunnel.

"Mount Fuji in Red" was basically about this power plant that blows up and all of Japan is in Panic. The story follows these few people who are trying to figure out what is going on until they finally realize that they are all going to die because of all the toxic gases in the air.

These two stories were the only ones that I found remotely interesting all the other ones I really couldn't stand. There was one story about this kid who saw a secret wedding ceremony that he wasn't supposed that kind of had my interest until it just ended abruptly. There was another story of about this peach orchard that had another long unnecessary scene of people dancing around that was just unbearable and make me as the question again "WHY!!"

I stuck till the end of this movie hoping that maybe something will redeem it, maybe these stories will somehow connect with each other in a clever way but all I got was this story about this funeral that people celebrate instead of mourn. I was very disappointed in this film as you probably already know. If somebody in the future ever asks me about this movie I think the only response I could give him is "WHY!!" Dreams was a complete NIGHTMARE.(pun intended)

Bombay

There is much to say about the film "Bombay" which takes its name from one of the biggest cities in India. The film starts out as a standard, not so special, love story that has been seen in numerous films before it and felt a bit rushed too, but I'll get to that later. But as the story progresses it takes a complete 180 and a precious story of living life in the midst of enormous racial tension emerges.

The film follows Shekhar, who is from a traditional Hindu family, and Shaila, who is from a Muslim family. Shekhar falls in love after seeing Shaila walking around the village. Shaila, however, is reluctant about Shekhar, but after seeing him follow her around numerous times she eventually falls in love with her. This is the part that I felt was a bit rushed. She barely knew the guy and she decides to marry her at there first meeting. But that is just a minor complaint.

Anyways, when Shekhar tells his father that he is going to marry a Muslim he is met with a harsh reaction and leaves home. The same happens at Shaila's home, in fact her father threatens to kill her. Both Shaila and Shekhar run away to Bombay where they get married and eventually have kids.

This is where the film takes a major turn, there is a lot of racial tensions going on between the Muslims and the Hindus in Bombay and riots between the two groups start. These riots eventually bring the parents of both Shaila and Shekhar to Bombay to make sure they are all right. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worst when a giant riot breaks out in Bombay and both groups start burning down everything. Shaila, Shekhar and there children get out of there house, but there parents aren't as lucky and they are killed. After this the children go missing and Shaila and Shekhar have to find them amidst the madness of the riots. They are eventually found and the riots end after the leaders of both sides see atrocities that are going on around them.

In the end the film turned out to be quite good. It tackled a theme of racism that is relatable to out world today. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world and there will always be some sort of racial tension around is and it was interesting to see how it plays out in other countries. It is rally amazing to see how something as small as believing in some thing different can be a good enough excuse for the killing of hundreds of people. We are all human and the judgement of our characters should not come from whether or not we believe in the same god as someone else.

This film tackled this issue excellently, and even though the first half of the movie wasn't as good as the second half it all came together quite seamlessley. It is a movie that I would highly recommend to anybody.