"The Wolfpack" Review

No, it's not a spin-off from The Hangover. The Wolfpack is a documentary that's been making rounds on the indie & festival circuits this year to high acclaim. It centers on the six Angulo brothers who have essentially been confined for their entire lives in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. All they know about the outside world comes from the movies they watch. "We have around 5,000 movies; DVDs and some VHS," says one of the boys. They often spend their days building props and costumes from whatever scrap materials they find around the apartment and use them to re-enact some of their favorite movies, from The Dark Knight to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. The brothers' lives change when one of them leaves the apartment in a rebellious act against their father, whose paranoid ideologies have kept the boys so isolated.

The Wolfpack tells the Angulos' unique story with reverence and intrigue. It really feels as if director Crystal Moselle has gained access to another world within our own; one in which it feels like outsiders are infrequently, if ever, welcomed. Such a taboo feeling makes the payoff that much sweeter when the boys start to venture out on their own behind their father's back. But it also softens the hit when we discover that walking out is not exactly the big no-no we've been led to believe. The parents eventually encourage the boys to get out and discover the world for themselves. A first-time trip to Coney Island in the daytime curiously begets a night out on the town with mom and dad happily seeing them off. That makes the stakes feel somewhat diminished, but it doesn't make the journey any less interesting.

The Angulos are quite a cast of characters, and I'd be interested to see where they all end up in 5-10 years. Hopefully Moselle is able to get ahold of them for a sequel. The Wolfpack is one of the best documentaries you'll see this year.

PROS:
-Real life coming-of-age story
-A movie about movies!
-Unique perspectives from the characters

CONS;
-Diminished stakes

A-