The Wolfpack

Description

This Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner intimately focuses on the undeniably charming and insightful Angulo brothers who range in age from 16 to 24. Cloistered within a cramped flat in a public housing tower in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the brothers grew up literally cut off from the outside world. They ventured outside the apartment only on tightly supervised excursions a few times a year and had no friendships or social connections outside of their family. Besides the mistrust and fear of others instilled in them by their father, their only knowledge of society came through their mother’s home schooling and movies brought in on DVDs. The brothers repeatedly watched films such as Reservoir Dogs and The Dark Knight, eventually transcribing them into scripts that they used to recreate and record on their own with makeshift sets and costumes. Like the hypothetical captives in Plato’s allegory of the cave, everything the siblings knew about the world was contained within their confined home—and a skewed version of reality informed by the movies. One brother takes the bold step of sneaking out to experience New York, eventually convincing his brothers to join him, shattering the account of reality they’ve been given. With intensely personal access, the movie gives voice to the endlessly surprising brothers’ reactions as they open up to describe their separate and individual journeys. —Sean Uyehara

Film Details