Running head: AMORES PERROS: SOME THOUGHTS ON SUSANA AND OCTÁVIO

Amores Perros: Some Thoughts on Susana and Octávio

Márcio Padilha

Lewis-Clark State College

SW492-60 – DeLong Hamilton

Summer/2011

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Amores Perros: Some Thoughts on Susana and Octávio

Amores Perros (Iñárritu, 2000) is a 2000 Mexican movie, sometimes referred to as Love's

a Bitch in the English-language market. The first work of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s trilogy

of death, Amores Perros is further developed under a triptych archetype whereby writer

Guillermo Arriaga Jordán fatalistically overlaps the stories and intertwines the characters’ lives

in an attempt of illustrating love and loss in modern-day Mexico City. The ensuing plot tapestry

derives out of several facets of one same metaphor: the bond between humans and animals,

which, in each story, reflects the human condition in the parallel lives of the dogs which share

their owners' worlds and, in doing so, become joint victims within this violent cycle.

In its entirety, Amores Perros comprises three segments which stem out interpersonal

relationships and, as such, are named Susana and Octávio, Daniel and Valeria and El Chivo and

Maru. In short, the first segment brings different contingencies of intrafamilial violence with a

touch of social taboo within the context of a very low socioeconomic status while the second

segment, still dwelling on the same intrafamilial violence topic, approaches it from a perspective

which is antagonistic to its predecessor in many aspects. Lastly, the final segment, tying off

different aspects of the previous two, delves into aspects of structural violence and how its

societal unfolding affects not only an individual or a group staunchly but rather permissively

which, in turn, sets the wheel in motion and perpetuates the cycle of violence.

Placing Susana and Octávio as the focus point of my discussion on violence centers the

argument within two concomitant issues: domestic violence within the context of structural

violence. In the presented construct, two adult male siblings live at home with their mother. In

addition to that, the oldest brother’s live-in girlfriend, Susana, and their baby, Rodrigo, are also

under that same roof. Whereas such a family unit would not necessarily be indicative of a

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problem within the Mexican context, the fact that the younger brother, Octávio, and Susana are

unemployed while the older brother, Ramiro, cannot make enough money neither to support his

family or help out with the household expenses does pose a shift to the paradigm. Out of this

matrix of economic deprivation, internal friction sprouts and leads to progressively greater issues

of domestic violence which are exemplified by a pattern of different abusive behaviors which

range from emotional to physical aggression. The case at hand, as illustrated in the movie,

appears to be symptomatic of a generational and systematic social issue rather than a mere

isolated episodic instance. Therefore, whereas, from a macro perspective, the family unit at hand

is the victim of a socially negligent conjuncture which is self-evident, each individual within that

family unit, from a micro perspective, concomitantly becomes one another’s victim and

perpetrator; a situation which is allusive to Plautus’ assertion that “man is wolf to man” which is,

to some extent, corroborated by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Out of a personal conviction, I have long defended that the family unit is the building

block of society and that, as such, our collective well-being relies deeply on how well this

institution does. Therefore, if the family unit is subjected to structural violence due to a coercive

sociopolitical model, the core concepts of its modus operandi will adjust and, in doing so

transgenerationally, improper functioning will result.

Susana and Octávio illustrates how societal structural functionalism can become deeply

affected by both poverty and lack education, which, in my opinion, are indicative of a learned

helplessness, a component of a larger culture of underprivilege that has its own different set of

values and beliefs. Within the earned helplessness mindset, getting out of poverty is not an

option. Therefore, in order to make the best of their situation, one must live in the moment and

experience what they can when they can, which, in turn, only serves to perpetuate the cycle.

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In addition, several facets of domestic violence are also depicted throughout Susana and

Octávio.

Octávio falls in love with Susana and, despite her unclear feelings for him, he keeps

harassing her until both have an affair. While this situation places Octávio as an active

perpetrator, it also allows for Susana to become a passive perpetrator in that their affair gives her

the opportunity of revenge at Ramiro. Then, while planning to run away with her and his

nephew, Octávio is faced with the issue of financial support for this new family unit and, thus,

ventures into the underworld of illegal dog fighting for easy money thereby indicating that the

whole family unit has fallen victim to the conjuncture. While Octávio’s newly acquired finances

give him the upper-hand in that he can provide things for his nephew which his brother, the

baby’s father, cannot, it is nothing but another indicator that he has once more fallen victim to

structural violence. Humiliated, Ramiro confronts Octávio who, in turn, breaks Ramiro’s nose in

public. For revenge, Ramiro later brutally beats Octávio in the shower with a golf club; all

instances which adequately illustrate the praxis of violence as conflict resolution tool in that

psychological/emotional violence evolved into actual physical violence. At some point, Susana

feels guilty about her affair with Octávio, but does not know that Ramiro himself is also having

an affair with another woman. Thereby, Susana and Octávio presents a Helsinki Syndrome

scenario where Susana, being constantly emotionally and sometimes physically abused by

Ramiro, sympathizes with her abuser. Parallel to Octávio’s illegal behavior, Ramiro is also

robbing pharmacies at gun-point; evidencing the presence of structural violence in that the

system has not been able to prevent them from evading non-criminal behavior as means of

subsistence. Back to the realm of domestic abuse, Octávio has Ramiro roughed up pretty badly.

His intent is that Ramiro will get scared and run away, leaving Susana and Rodrigo behind.

Nevertheless, by taking Susana and Rodrigo along, Ramiro, who never suspected of the affair,

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strikes inadvertently back at Octávio who gets further emotionally victimized when he finds out

that Susana has taken all the money he had entrusted her with for their getaway plans. From this

point on to the end, I felt as if structural violence were the theme at hand. As Octávio continues

in the dog fighting business, eventual rivalry issues arise and, as a result, Cofi, Octávio’s money-

making dog, gets shot. In an outburst, Octávio stabs Jarocho for having shot Cofi. Out of this, a

high-speed car chase ensues through the streets of Mexico City. There is an eventual car crash

which leaves Octávio seriously injured his friend Jorge dead; all of which are undisputable

indicators of structural violence. Concomitantly, Ramiro, in order to support his family, starts

robbing banks until he runs out of luck and ends up shot dead. During his Ramiro’s funeral,

Octávio once again asks Susana to go to Ciudad Juarez with him, but she never turns up at the

bus station. So, Octávio vanishes into the night. So, despite being a fictional piece, Amores

Perros allowed for Octávio, Susana and Ramiro to be in one another’s shoes, which was

interesting and not altogether impossible to happen in real life.

A cinephile myself, I found that the neorealist nature of Amores Perros, while firmly

standing on some specific cultural elements of the Mexican continuum, shows how

comprehensively, and distinctively, violence presents itself within different social strata, which,

in my opinion, exemplifies somewhat of a human commonality rather than a Mexican

singularity.

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Bibliography

Iñárritu, A. G. (Dirección). (2000). Amores Perros [Película].