PART II: THE WOLFPACK

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The Wolfpack is a documentary about this family that has seven children: six boys and one girl. It’s a sad story because the father wouldn’t let them leave the house, like, ever. They had a tiny apartment in [New York’s] Lower East Side, and sometimes they would leave once or twice in a year. One year they didn’t leave the house even once. So the boys began coming up with all these ways to entertain themselves. They started watching movies all the time, and they’d write out scripts and would play the roles and film themselves as characters in the movie. The line between fantasy and reality was really blurred for them because they were living their lives in these movies. They created worlds inside this tiny apartment. And finally, one of the kids, who was 15, was like, “I’m outta here” and just went outside. His courage to go outside, into this world that his parents had made him terrified of, changed their lives. He went outside, and the world slowly opened.

It’s a beautiful, interesting story. You go through so many different emotions watching it. You’re kind of horrified—it’s like abuse, you know? It captures your heart right there. I can’t even imagine not leaving the house for a month—that to me sounds crazy. It was just a prison for children! And then on top of this, being made afraid of the world, and your parents putting this terrible fear in your heart of life, of living. What’s beautiful about it is what the boys decided to do: they became creative. They made a band, they made these amazing drawings, they [reenacted] Reservoir Dogs and one of them plays Samuel L. Jackson, and it’s so good! It’s so funny! They have these beautiful spirits that are creative and fun and playful. And then the courage it took for them to get out of that situation. The [first] kid goes out, and he’s scared! [But he] does it, and the other kids decide to do it, too. And the mother, who you find out is also a victim in this situation, works up the courage to reach out to her mother, whom she hasn’t spoken to in years.

Courage is contagious, you know? I think that’s why it’s so important. It’s important to have people who are risk-takers, who are willing to take the leap. Because it takes so much for somebody to do that, but once one person does it, it’s so much easier for everyone else to come around. Other people’s acts of courage are always inspiring. When somebody else does something—like a huge creative act—it makes you evaluate yourself and want to do something courageous. That leap is so powerful that you immediately feel it and check yourself, like Wow, what can I do? What am I not doing?