Over the past 14 years, the seven siblings have watched 5,000 movies and believe that what is in the movies is the real world.
There is such a family, with 7 siblings, locked at home by their father for 14 years, and can only learn about the outside world by watching movies. This is not a plot of a novel, but a true story that took place in Manhattan, New York, USA. Until recently, the documentary “The Wolfpack” , which was shot based on the family’s story, won the jury award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. This family was regarded as a “lost tribe” in the city by the outside world focus on.
The owner of the house, Oscar Angulo, is a Peruvian immigrant. In December 1989, Oscar, a tour guide, received American girl Susan in the ancient city of Machu Picchu in Peru. The two fell in love quickly and began to travel around the world in the second month.
After returning to the United States, Oscar and Susan settled in West Virginia, and then began an efficient “man-making” project. In October 1990, the first child, Vesnu, was born; in August 1991, the second child, Bhaghawan, came into the world. In July 1992, the third and fourth children, the twin brothers Gweda and Narayana, were born safely; in 1994, Oscar carried his family around the United States in a minivan with the dream of being a rock musician. In August of this year, the fifth child, Mukunda, was born on the trip.
In March 1995, the Angulo family moved into a cheap apartment in New York. However, due to the chaos of law and order, they changed several places of residence, and finally settled in a 4-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in May 1996. In the next two years, Krisna and his youngest son, Yegadisha, were born one after another. Except for the eldest who is a girl, the other 6 are boys.
5000 movies to see the world
Oscar is an alcoholic and paranoid. He always feels that New York will “pollute” the children, so he strictly forbids his wife and children to go out and monopolizes the only house key in the family. The seven siblings can only learn some basic knowledge from their mother, Susan, and are very eager to learn about the outside world. They found that watching movies is a good way, so they watched one after another, and by the time they started sneaking out occasionally in 2010, they had watched almost 5,000 movies, wandering around Christopher Nolan, Quentin Talent In the light and shadow world of Noah or Martin Scorsese.
Cut off from the outside world, the Angulos made a daily pastime of playing movie characters, like Batman.
“After watching The Dark Knight, I started to believe that some things are possible, not because of Batman, but in another world,” said one of the brothers, “and I tried my best to make this world come true and escape my world. ”
In the end, one of the brothers escaped from the closed home, and this group of young people who had been closed for more than ten years began to contact the society.
Once, the six brothers sneaked into the street in black suits, and this strange attire caught the attention of director Crystal Moselle. Mosel said that watching the boys, aged 11 to 18, walking together, all wearing sunglasses, “felt like I had discovered a lost tribe”, and later learned that their outfits were inspired by American directors. Inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Rampaging” (also translated as “Reservoir Dogs”).
Moselle approached the Angulo family patiently, first walked into their house, and then opened the door of their hearts. Eventually she gained trust and moved the camera in, too.
“I was their first friend, and they and I were obsessed with each other,” Moser said. “Increasingly, their mom became interested in me.”
But Oscar never opened his heart to Moselle, and only briefly appeared in the camera. Moser described him as a “roller coaster.”
“Real life (compared to movies) is different after all. In the real world, girls don’t always break your heart, and boys have to learn to understand that,” Moser said.
Finally, Mosel made a documentary “The Wolfpack” based on the story of the Angulo family. Not long ago, “Wolves” won the 2015 Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize.
“I believe their father was terrified of the outside world and wanted to raise his kids his own way,” Moser said. “The most incredible thing is that they created their own world based on the movies they saw. ”
Although the children have been closed at home for more than ten years, in Moselle’s view, there is no problem with their minds. “They are the most gentle, insightful and curious people I have ever met. There must be something right behind this.” s things.”
According to the “New York Times” report, social worker volunteers had contacted the Angulo brothers and provided psychological correction services. As can be seen in the documentary, the brothers resented their father’s closed management. Currently, these children are still living at home in Manhattan, and only 22-year-old Gweda left home to live a completely free life.
