Review of The Wolfpack (2015) by Art S — 10 Jun 2016

A Sundance winner, this documentary uncovered the secret life of seven children (six of them boys) who were confined to their Lower East Side NYC apartment for most of their lives, learning about the world from home-schooling and more importantly from movies, which they re-enact with glee (and paper maiche).

We are treated to excerpts from Reservoir Dogs, Batman Begins, and Pulp Fiction. Of course, the documentary can't begin until the children have been found, around the time that the oldest was 20 years old, perhaps.

There is no explanation about how the director, Crystal Moselle, stumbled into this story but she is offscreen most of the time as the four older kids reveal their secrets (and we also see found video-recorded footage from their childhood).

The mother and father show up to explain themselves (the father is a control freak who was afraid of the NYC environs). Although there are hints of darkness, the film is largely optimistic, tracking how the young men start to reassert themselves once the parental controls are lifted.

Some of them would like to be film directors, naturally. Amazingly, this is not a freak show but that may be testament to the careful and ethical shaping of the material by Moselle that lets the protagonists speak, but leaves many unanswered questions (and hence, drags a bit).