Directed by: Crystal Moselle.
I’ve
thought a lot about The Wolfpack in the week since I saw the documentary – and
still am not quite sure if the film is inspirational, or tragic. The film is a
look at the lives of the Angulo brothers – all of six of them, who grew up with
their parents, and little sister, all sharing a small apartment on the Lower
East Side of Manhattan. The brothers were home schooled, and very rarely
allowed to leave the apartment at all – and never by themselves. Their father
controlled them all – and didn’t want them to have contact with the corrupting
forces of the outside world. But there was one thing from the outside he would
let his sons see – movies. Lots and lots of movies. And the brothers fell in
love with them, and got to see the world outside their tiny apartment through
those movies – many of which, they would recreate, using ingenious means,
turning everything they could find into material for props and costumes.
Director Crystal Moselle met the brothers on one of their first trips outside
their apartment on their own – when they were all dressed like Reservoir Dogs,
and was eventually invited into their home to make this documentary – although
she often lets the brothers take control of the camera, and the film itself.
On
one level, The Wolfpack is an inspirational movie – the type that Hollywood
loves, because it is about the love of movies, and how they can inspire people
to become their best selves. Three recent Oscar winners – The Artist, Argo and
Birdman – were about that in various ways, as they represent the good that art
in general – and movies specifically- can do. For the Argulo brothers, you can
argue that movies have kept them sane – and made them see the world outside of
their apartment. They may not have been able to leave physically, but mentally,
they could whenever they wanted to. At a certain point, they realized that
their lives were not normal, and eventually gained the courage to leave – and
start their own lives.
On
another level though, The Wolfpack is a very sad movie – about a father who
seems like a failed cult leader, who wanted to brainwash and control his
family, who kept them under lock and key for years, and although he seems like
a quiet man when interviewed in the movie, should perhaps be in jail. It’s to
the documentary’s credit that it lets viewers decide how to take the movie. The
movie doesn’t really judge its subjects – and Moselle quite clearly cares for
the sons, and the mother, in the family – her feelings about the father are
ambivalent at best. And while watching the movie, it’s easy to forget the
darker aspects of this story. The sons seem happy and well-adjusted – friendly
with each other, and Moselle. If their father had power over them – it’s gone
now. He comes across as pathetic more than anything – a sad man whose goals are
going unfulfilled.
The
film is Moselle’s first, and refreshingly, she askews much of the standard
issue documentary material than often drag down movies like this. There are no
talking heads, no stats or other title cards, no one offering a larger
perspective on the brothers. It really is an intimate documentary that allows
its subjects to be at its core, and doesn’t look much beyond them. It doesn’t
need to. This is a fascinating story all by itself – and Moselle was smart
enough to see that, and let it play out in front of her camera.
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