The Wolfpack (2015)

Just imagine that as a kid you would hardly be allowed to leave your house, at most five times a year (some years once). What would your image of the outside world be if it was almost completely based on the movies you have in your house? You can imagine that the more extreme situations you see in movies were what was really happening in the world. You would assume that the outside world is an extremely dangerous place. For the seven children of the family Angulo that was their reality for years. This documentary shows what kind of impact this has had on them.

Documentary filmmaker Crystal Moselle saw the six boys walking down the street. They stood out because they all had long hair and were dressed like the gangsters in Reservoir Dogs. She decided to talk to them and slowly she connected with the group. When they found out that she made documentaries they were immediately interested and Moselle spent several years making this documentary about them.

It is hard to imagine that these guys have led such a sheltered life. Their father, who follows the Hare Krishna, thought that New York was too dangerous for his children and forbade them, as he did his wife, to go outside. He had the only key to the apartment and the children were raised there and were taught by their mother. In addition, they spent a lot of time watching movies and love the medium, especially films where there were a lot of characters. What the kids did is write out the film’s dialogue in full and the different roles would be played by the various brothers. They made props from cardboard and paper (all kinds of weapons, but also entire outfits) modelled after the film and taped their version of the movie. At one point one of the brothers decided to leave the property without permission to discover the city, but because he knew so little of society he was arrested shortly thereafter. It turned out to be an important step, which the rest of the brothers followed and which allowed them to finally discover the world.

With The Wolfpack Crystal Moselle tells such an incredible story that you can not believe what these children have gone through. The boys themselves are very social, have a huge love for movies and many of them have the ambition to make a career in the world of film. Of course you also wonder why the parents have done this to their children. Although both father and mother are interviewed, you never get a true answer about their motivation. Using archival footage and following the boys around, for example during a stroll through the city (where they might state that the park looks like 3D) she succeeds in creating a fascinating portrait of a remarkable family.