Main Themes
The film covered three main themes throughout the different storylines, with them being violence, dog fighting, and money. 
Violence is a very prevalent theme in this film, but also in Mexico City. Each storyline has its own type of violence that it focuses on. Octavio's storyline focuses on gang violence and more of the dogfighting violence. El Chivo's story focuses more on private violence and murder since he is a hired hitman. Daniel and Valeria focus more on domestic violence and argument as a couple. Daniel and Valeria are stuck at home after Valeria is injured in a car wreck and badly hurts her leg, when she is no longer able to continue her work as a model, especially after her leg is amputated. Tension arises in the couple when her dog disappears, and Danial calls his estranged wife, whom he left for Valeria. 
As the film goes on, money is a common theme as the root for much of the violence we see. Ocatavio needs money to run away with Susana, and ends up in dogfights to earn some quick cash, especially after his money is stolen by Ramiro. Ocatavio's entire involvement in the dogfighting scene stemmed from needing money, and you could even say the events in his future are a result of this. He is badly injured when running from the man who shot his dog during the fight, when he is in a car wreck that also injured his dog, who was then taken and essentially adopted by El Chivo. El Chivo is a hitman who makes money by killing people, and he eventually leaves his dirty money to his daughter before disappearing. 
Dog fighting is a social issue and theme also covered in the film. We see dogfighting prevalent in the film, with many vicious scenes. After further research, dogfighting is a large issue in Mexico and Mexico City, and impacts real people in the ways we see in the film. Ocatvio ends up in a dire situation after entering a dangerous and illegal dogfight with no rules or outside bets, leading to his dog being shot by the other owner. El Chivo, a hitman, rescues Cofi, a wounded dog from dogfighting, and brings him to nurse him back to health with his other dogs. Unfortunately, Cofi kills El Chivo's other dogs, and El Chivo is upset. El Chivo eventually realizes that the dog couldn't know any better than to protect himself, and El Chivo becomes attached to his new dog. This is a moment of compassion for dogs involved in fighting, however, like other scenes in the film, it is usually very gory, and many dogs don't see a happy ending.

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