WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Isolation. It is a term utilized and understood via a myriad of ways. It can be self-imposed, or something imposed upon you. It can lead to moments of clarity, or times of fear-inducing loneliness and dysfunction. It can be a person’s greatest period of hindrance, or the most profound age of learning. For the six brothers of the Angulo family, it was a combination of it all. Growing up with a doting mother but an over-protective, under-achieving father in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the brothers are made to stay inside their apartment with no contact with the external world of any kind. Told the nature of things outside would corrupt them and fearing this would happen, life seems bleak.
But, the magic of imagination, marvelous ingenuity, and a boldness to make the most of a circumstance most might crumble under, the Angulo brothers find their existence in watching and re-creating their favorite movies. Utilizing costuming and props created entirely out of household items available to them, they escape their “prison” and learn to express themselves in this way, bringing about a surprising amount of genuine positivity and fortitude in the face of the building frustrations and anger they have as they begin to mature and wonder what exactly life on the outside is truly life. And when a choice is made by one of them to defy the rules and take that step, it stirs a crucial turning point that will redefine all of their lives.
Next, my Mind:
Watching the sheer starkness of the existence these six boys, now young men, have gone through is honestly one of the biggest mixes of emotions this reviewer has experienced from a documentary effort, and this is thanks to director Crystal Moselle. There is a sense of anger at first when realizing that it truly seemed like these brothers were prisoners in their own home. Then there’s the sense of playful excitement in watching how amazingly clever and creative they are in re-enacting their beloved collections of films and the joy they drew from that. This is followed by a sense of sadness, as they see how a father’s decision they really don’t understand affects the family as a whole.
There is even a deeper sense of melancholy when you ultimately see how much their mother, who wants nothing but the best for them, endures for the sake of holding them all together. And the realizations that come from the father when he explains his reasons for the way he chose to raise the boys evokes its own mix of mild understanding yet lingering aggravation that he was not allowing these boys to gain experience in real life, rather than just through film. But the final result of them standing up and making the choice they do is profoundly moving, and ones heart cannot help but be impacted by it, given new hope that everything will be ok for six boys who only desired to have viability.
Visually arresting in its delivery, brilliantly conceived in its narrative, and painfully real in its emotional experience and tone, “The Wolfpack” stands as a sobering reminder of how life can have you down, but that taking a step of faith into a new, mysterious reality can change the course of ones path forever.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
