be sure to watch us again next week, another edition of "what would you do?." like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. don't go away. "20/20" starts right now. >> reporter: it's opening night in new york city and a curious and captivating group of young movie stars is working the red carpet. they are the angulo brothers, better known as "the wolfpack." and their tale of family, fortitude, and survival is told in a bold new documentary. it's brought them from isolation into the spotlight, a story truly stranger than fiction. roughly one mile away and a universe away is where the secret history of the wolfpack unfolded. in the gritty chaos of the lower east side for more than a decade, behind these windows, almost no one knew they existed. locked away. unseen. unheard. unknown. this was their only view of the world.

their neighbors never saw them. >> i've been here all my life. we didn't know they existed. >> reporter: six rooms, six brothers, 14 years locked inside with their mother by their father who kept them from the world. trapped in the confines of their tiny apartment. >> if he put us in a room we have to stay there until he says you can go. >> reporter: with no friends, no freedom, the boys have just one escape. what would be their salvation? movies. thousands of movies. >> as far back as i can remember anything, like, as far back as i can remember loving my mom. i remember movies. they were like a door into another world. >> reporter: in many ways, movies saved your lives. >> i think in a way, movies, they shaped us who we are. >> reporter: they memorized them. reenacted them. until one day, fantasy becomes reality. >> it was now or never. >> reporter: when life inside became too much to bear and one

son found the courage to break free. >> my heart pounded so hard. it was like, there's no going back now. >> reporter: tonight, a story about the power of film, of imagination, and the wolfpack's astonishing journey to freedom. >> good evening. this is a story so incredible, it seems like something out of a movie. and now, it is. that movie, "the wolfpack," opening today. >> i don't know what to expect. but what i found was a devoted band of brothers, their only friends were essentially characters on a tv screen. but now, everyone will know these boys, and be inspired by

their journey of courage and hope. >> reporter: 154 broome street. it's a public housing development home to some 800 people. i am a rare visitor to an apartment on the 16th floor, where the angulo family lives. >> come on in. >> reporter: 22-year-old mukunda invites me in to show me the home that was his prison for 14 years. the apartment is 1,000 square feet. the largest space is this living room. that's like two of me. >> yes. it is small. >> reporter: the apartment, home to seven children, their mother, susanne and their father, oscar. he had the only key to the front door and only he could use it. so, this was always locked? >> always. >> reporter: his father blocked the door with a tall ladder to keep intruders out and his family in. >> and when you'd lift the ladder, it'd make a loud, like -- so, he would know if anybody was attempting to go out. >> reporter: oscar creates their own fortress of solitude.

in these home videos, scenes of the strange world in which they lived. part hare krishna. part paranoia. oscar's own hermit kingdom. >> he had this idea, like having a big group, like our own community, our own race here. it's almost like a tribe that you have. >> reporter: visnu is their first child and only daughter, born with a rare genetic disorder. a year later came bhagavanm. a year later fraternal twins, govinda and narayana. how did they get these names? >> they're sanskrit, from the sanskrit language. >> reporter: mukunda was born next. then the two youngest, krsna and jagadish. at night, the boys slept with susanne piled on top of each other on mattresses. during the day, releasing their pent-up energy dancing, bouncing. their entire childhood, homeschooled by their mother,

for the six boys, recess was roller-skating indoors, back and forth in that tiny hallway. but, the most important lesson every day. oscar's rules. number one, the boys' hair was never cut. >> he always encouraged us to have long hair. >> when you have long hair, you are powerful. he was like, be a powerful person. >> reporter: rule number two. stay inside. what did he say would happen to you if you went outside? >> he would say to us, so outside there's good people and there's bad people. dad would always explain, you know, i like to keep you all here, protected. >> reporter: there were rules about which rooms they could enter. in the apartment, there's a kitchen, a bedroom, two bathrooms, and three more rooms. but, as if six rooms for nine people wasn't cramped enough, the children were forbidden from entering two of them. mukunda says it stems from his father's fear. he banned the boys from rooms that shared walls with the neighbors. >> he didn't want anyone to hear

what we were doing or that we were laughing or, he basically didn't want anyone to know we were here. >> reporter: that's why even one of the two bathrooms was off limits. >> we weren't allowed to use this one. only this one. >> reporter: and this one would just sit empty? nobody used it? >> nobody would use it. >> reporter: one of the twins says the restrictions were the most extreme for their mother. >> she had the worst of it, from all of us. she had more rules than we did. any little thing that she did wrong was -- she was like put on trial. i was very much a frightened person and we all were. >> he would not treat her like a happy husband with a happy wife. >> reporter: how did it come to this? susanne, who grew up in the farm fields of the midwest, met oscar in the exotic jungles of peru, hiking to macchu picchu. >> he really thought and acted in a much bigger way than most

people. >> reporter: they married within months, living first in a hare krishna preserve. later in a van, having baby after baby. but, when they ended up at the new york housing project, oscar shut the door and pocketed the only key. you didn't argue no, this is silly, we're overreacting. >> at that time i didn't have a lot of control about the choices that i made or could make. >> reporter: susanne had no contact with her family. her sisters say she left no trail. no address. no phone number. >> we just felt there was no way of knowing. how do we find out? we had to hire a detective. >> no one had seen her. >> reporter: susanne was hiding in plain sight. oscar didn't work and the family survived on welfare and the money she earned for homeschooling. all her time was spent tending to her seven children inside. it must have been deeply painful to see your kids growing up confined.

>> sometimes it was hard because i thought, i wanted them to be out in the fresh air because that's what i did as a child. >> reporter: the children's only view of the wonders of the world were through susanne's memories of the life she used to have. >> i've been hiking in the himalayas, so i used to talk about that a lot. >> every day i wished to be out in nature with my mom, learning about the web of life and the connection of everything. >> when my children were younger we would sit and look out the window and i could compare it to the view on a mountaintop. those big buildings might be other mountains. instead of all the cars in the parking lot, there would be a big meadow there. it was kind of fun. it broke the monotony a little bit. >> reporter: oscar would grant rare outings with more rules. they were told where to look, how far to walk, and never to interact with strangers.

>> we would go out in the summer mostly because it was nice out. >> reporter: so how many times a year would you go out? >> sometimes five. >> one. >> reporter: one? >> one, and then yeah. then one year not at all. then the winter came. >> we never went out in the winter. >> reporter: the only freedom oscar did allow, what would become the boys' true escape -- movies. how many hours a day would you watch these movies? >> all day. >> reporter: how many movies have you seen? >> let's just say over 10,000 movies. >> reporter: you've seen over 10,000 movies? >> like, at least. >> reporter: with no outside friends, no outside activities, it was total immersion, an obsession. >> if i didn't have movies, life would be pretty boring. it makes me feel like i'm living sort of because it's kind of magical. >> reporter: next, the power of imagination, the brothers

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"20/20" continues, with the wolfpack. here again, elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: they were six brothers locked in a cramped apartment for 14 years. their father gave them free rein to just one thing -- movies. they were the boys' only window to the outside world. losing themselves in the wilderness of "the last of the mohicans," the streets of sicily

in "the godfather" and the gritty new york underworld in "goodfellas," the films were more than entertainment, they were salvation. >> the movies taught us like, sort of how to speak to one another. >> are you talking to me? >> how you interact with another person and have an opinion. >> marvin, what do you make of all this? >> reporter: with hours, days, weeks, months, years to fill, they would watch their favorites again and again. >> "the dark knight." >> "pirates of the caribbean." >> "blade runner," "taxi driver." >> "apocalypse now," "citizen kane," "no country for old men," "halloween." >> "gone with the wind." "sunset boulevard." "the thing." >> reporter: at some point, simply watching is not enough. the boys decide to become a part of the movies they love. in the confines of their tiny apartment, their imagination runs wild. >> every time my fingers touch brain, i'm superfly, tnt. >> we kind of thought why don't we do those films, be those characters?

>> reporter: they painstakingly transcribe every word, spending weeks creating handwritten scripts, homemade costumes and props. "inglorious basterds." how many scenes in the movie is this? >> this is the whole movie. >> reporter: this is the whole movie? >> every word that is uttered in that movie. >> reporter: and that's every word that's uttered in "pulp fiction?" >> yes. >> yes. >> reporter: you have got to be kidding me. with every line, every hand gesture, every expression memorized, they assign parts and perform, their only audience is themselves. scenes from "reservoir dogs." "pulp fiction." "batman." every punch, coreographed. mukunda is the main prop master, creating costumes from anything he can get his hands on. >> we've got an oxygen tank. from "no country for old men."

inside, if you want to feel that, that is little milo tin cans. it's like a raisin bran or quakers. i'd tape it all together and get the shape and just color all of it. >> reporter: that's great. >> when we do it i have to get into the mind of the character, it's a responsibility, that sounds pathetic to some people because -- but to us and to our world it's very personal. >> reporter: did you guys ever look out the windows at other people on the street and wonder what their lives were like? >> it was kind of like, oh, look at that, that's a school bus, these kids are going to school just like in the movies. >> reporter: as for the neighbors they never saw. >> we'd make up characters out of them. if we hear, like yelling or like loud music we'd be like, uh, that sounds a little bit like "goodfellas" partying, maybe. maybe robert de niro's living in there. we'd just imagine a lot. >> sort of what you miss out on

you make up in fantasy. >> reporter: for the 14 years they are confined from first teeth to first words, young boys becoming young men. as they grow, the four rooms they live in grow smaller, the claustrophobia becomes stifling. >> it's scary to want to break out of that, that box. >> reporter: then in the winter of 2009 their prison shrinks even further. oscar, perhaps sensing his growing sons' growing restlessness, covers the windows that winter with blankets, sealing off the one remaining link to the outside world. >> when that was happening, we couldn't even get sunlight looking out the window. i started getting a little like all right, enough is enough. >> reporter: it is 2010. the tension in the tiny apartment has mounted. >> it starts to reach like a volcano point where something is starting to erupt. >> reporter: mukunda's name means "giver of freedom" and one morning he wakes up determined to seize his own. >> it was a saturday morning,

and i just thought i've got to do it today, it's now or never. >> reporter: he waits for his father to leave the apartment to buy groceries. >> i wouldn't dare do it when he was around. >> reporter: he goes to his prop closet and selects a mask to hide his face. he is frightened his father will see him on the street. the mask he chooses, michael myers from the movie "halloween." >> there's no way he'd be able to recognize that it was me. >> reporter: he tells his brothers he is leaving. >> i was pretty fearful. >> reporter: fearful of? >> not so much for his safety or if he would be okay, but for the repercussions of that. >> reporter: and then 15-year-old mukunda opens the front door. down the 16 flights of stairs. and out into the air. >> the moment i opened the door, my heart pounded so hard.

i was like -- >> reporter: outside without his father for the first time in his life. >> what do i do? i'm out in the open, it's all out there, there's no going back now. >> reporter: he doesn't even know his own address. >> i'll know how to get back as long as i keep the building, our building in my sight. >> reporter: so you just kept looking back here sort of as your touchstone? >> yes. >> reporter: but you kept walking, i mean -- >> i did. and as i recall, i knew which window was ours and i saw my brothers looking out. i turned left. >> reporter: turned left. were you nervous? >> really nervous. >> reporter: still wearing the "halloween" mask, he goes into a bank, a supermarket. he is terrified, and terrifying to those who see him. it doesn't take long for someone to call police. what did the police say to you? >> they started asking, "do you live here? where are you from?" and i was always taught to never interact with any people. i didn't give them any information on me. >> reporter: makunda escorted away in an ambulance. for most a nightmare. for mukunda, it's his first real life adventure.

>> i was in an ambulance for the first time, i was never in an ambulance, i was like, "whoa, look at this. this is just like a movie set or something." i'm like, "they got the siren on, this is pretty wild." >> reporter: because mukunda won't speak, police think he's unbalanced. they take him to bellevue hospital, the psychiatric ward. what was it like being in the hospital? >> fun, i have to say. >> reporter: fun? >> it was, because i interacted with, like, people for the first time. >> reporter: you weren't freaked out? >> no, i was very curious. >> reporter: he spends a week at the hospital. when he returns, there's been a cataclysmic shift in the apartment. oscar now knows he is no longer in control. basically it was that first walk down this first sidewalk that broke the spell really over the entire family, right? >> it is. a walk on broome street. >> reporter: changed everything. next, all the brothers, discovering the outside world for the first time.

>> this is like 3-d, man. >> reporter: and a chance encounter with a woman who will change their lives. >> it was like, one kid, another kid, and another kid and all of a sudden it was six of them and i ran after them. >> reporter: stay with us. sometimes breathing air can be difficult. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily anoro ellipta. it helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. anoro ellipta is the first fda-approved product containing two long-acting bronchodilators in one inhaler. anoro is not for asthma. anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, prostate or bladder problems, or problems passing urine

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"20/20" continues with the wolfpack. once again, here's elizabeth vargas. reporter: after 14 years of claustrophobia and confinement, mukunda angulo has broken free of his father's rules, liberating his brothers who now follow. the youngest is 11, the oldest 18. while their father stays in his bedroom behind closed doors, his sons take their first steps outside their apartment without him. what were those first forays out like? >> pure excitement. >> reporter: pure excitement? >> yeah. >> reporter: they are tentative at first, traveling in a pack, not going far from home base.

their senses are heightened. a simple stroll is supercharged. they revel in their new freedom. >> having independence feels really great if you have never had independence your whole life. >> reporter: yeah. >> it's so powerful, you know? you feel like, "i can survive, i can. i have much more confidence, i can make it." >> reporter: even as they're breaking free, their lifeline remains the movies. >> this is like 3-d, man. very fresh out here. >> reporter: in their trips out, they wear a form of armor -- the suits of the cast of "reservoir dogs." with their long hair and sunglasses, they are hard to miss, and in their first week out, new yorker crystal moselle spots them and does a double take. >> i was just walking down the street. all of a sudden it was six of them and i -- i ran after them. there's, like, nothing i could have done. >> reporter: the brothers, who consider movies their religion, ask crystal what she does for a living. the first person they meet, and she is a moviemaker. it feels like fate. >> we shared the same passion.

immediately made a connection from there. >> reporter: they arrange to get together, and soon the brothers invite her for dinner at their apartment. crystal has no idea that she is the first outsider ever to be allowed in their apartment. >> you're actually our first guest to be invited over. >> really? >> yeah! >> ever? >> yeah. we've never invited anybody over before. >> why not? >> because we didn't have friends. >> he had revealed to me that, i was one of their first friends, and that was a huge, like, what? >> reporter: you didn't know that. >> i was your first friend? >> reporter: she gradually learns about the confines of their childhood, and starts documenting as they experience life on the outside for the first time. their first bike ride. first visit to a restaurant. >> how's that salad? >> reporter: that's mukunda five years ago. >> very tasty.

very chemical. >> chemical? >> yeah. tastes like a chemical. >> reporter: and perhaps most momentous -- their first time at a movie theater to see christian bale starring in "the fighter." >> that's awesome. that's exciting. i play that guy in "the dark knight." "batman begins." >> reporter: you also had a front row seat to them experiencing the world for the first time. >> yeah. >> reporter: what was that like? >> oh, it was wonderful. they would express, "oh we -- we've never been to the beach, you want to go to the beach?" i said, "okay, let's go, i'll follow you to the beach." >> reporter: at the beach, for the first time, they feel sand in their toes, the taste of salt in the air. >> it was kind of like this like baptism as they're like crashing in the water for the first time. very beautiful. >> reporter: how did they grow and change as they began to go out and experience life? >> they slowly learned how to interact with people.

>> nice to meet you. >> where are you guys from? >> the only way i knew how to make conversation with anybody. "do you like movies?" "yes, i do." "what's your favorite?" "i like this movie." "oh, i like that too." >> reporter: learning the art of conversation, and the art of moviemaking, crystal teaches them about cinematography. >> the tripod? the thing with three legs. >> reporter: that's govinda -- one of the twins -- his hair long, dutifully taking notes. >> how do you view over what you recorded? >> there was something that was so open about them that you don't see every day when you're in new york city. >> reporter: crystal films for nearly five years. a friend tells her they look like a pack of wolves, and the nickname sticks. all the while, they become more accustomed to the outside world. >> reporter: what were the differences between what you had thought life was like from watching the movies and what you really experienced life as being? >> one, not everybody's trying to kill you. >> in the movies, everybody understands what the other is saying and they have like a

reply to it, but in real life it's like, "could you repeat the question? could you repeat?" i'm like, "i'm sorry, i didn't get it," and not everything -- not everything's a plan, in other words, in life. >> reporter: nobody's -- everybody's not following a script? >> everything moves slower. >> reporter: you need life to be edited a little bit better. their freedom brings transformation. the youngest, jagadesh and krisna, change their names to eddie and glenn. and four of the brothers cut off their long hair. so cutting your hair off was a rite of advancing? >> right. like, it was -- >> reporter: leaving the past behind? >> it's like -- start like, "okay, we are starting a new life. this is how i am moving forward." >> reporter: who did you see change the most over the course of the time you spent with them? >> i think their mother. >> reporter: really? >> the mother really broke free out of the situation that they're in and it was -- it was very beautiful to see that happen. >> i am not finding that place that has the donuts. that's what i'm looking for.

>> reporter: you've gone from living where you never were allowed to go out unless oscar said you could, to now going out every single day. >> yes. >> reporter: she has changed her name too, from angulo, back to her maiden name. >> it's very empowering, and i feel now like i've stepped back into how i really know myself. >> reporter: do you have regrets? do you wish that you had claimed that part of yourself sooner? >> in some ways i have regrets, but in many ways it's been a journey for me. and i feel like -- it's been a learning process, and so i can't discount any part of it. >> reporter: mm-hmm. >> because it's my life, and that would be like saying, "oh, i wish i hadn't lived for those

years," and i never feel that. >> reporter: her biggest step -- reaching out to the family she had cut off. in the documentary, she calls her mother, she hasn't heard her voice in over 20 years. >> i just, well, i want to say that i love you so much, mom. you know, i just love you so much. >> reporter: that was very moving. >> yeah. >> reporter: that must have felt amazing to talk to her again. >> yeah, i just am so glad to have her in my family and my life again. >> reporter: next -- crystal's documentary debuts. >> how has your life changed? >> reporter: and a dream meeting --

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in magazines. the brothers who once couldn't imagine speaking to strangers, no less girls, now pose with movie stars. one has a girlfriend. >> they really are so articulate, and so charming and entertaining. >> reporter: you must be very proud of them. >> yes. >> reporter: but one thing has not changed at all. after a night on the town rubbing elbows with celebrities, they return home to the same apartment that had been their prison. their father oscar still lives there. susanne remains married to him, but says he no longer makes the rules. are things different now with you and your husband? >> yes, our relationship has probably done like a 180. >> reporter: in our visits to the apartment, oscar remained behind this door, unseen. he did not respond to our request for a comment. the relationship between oscar and his sons is irreversibly damaged.

only one brother now speaks to him. the others are desperately saving money to find a way to move out. >> i have no interaction with him at all. as far as i am concerned, he is dead to me. i am trying to move out because living under the same roof just haunts me every second. >> reporter: but his twin govinda feels differently. >> i've grown to kind of forgive him. if i was always living in regret and just hating on the way things were done, i probably wouldn't be able to move on. >> reporter: 22-year-old govinda is the one brother who has scraped together enough money to move out, sharing an apartment in brooklyn with three roommates. >> this is sort of the general movie area. >> reporter: the wall is adorned by a poster of his favorite movie, "taxi driver." >> de niro was one of my all-time favorite actors. >> reporter: he says the film reminds him of how he used to feel before breaking out. >> all my life needed was a sense of some place to go. >> he was a loner. he couldn't interact with

people. it was kind of how were when we would look out of our apartment, just like -- >> reporter: the sort of separateness. >> right. >> reporter: it's a feeling govinda has finally shed. five years after he scribbled notes on filmmaking, learning how to press record. he's working on his first independent movie. >> now that we're on set and it's happening, it's sort of a surreal feeling. almost i can't believe it. >> reporter: after years inside, all the brothers have been making up for lost time, eagerly pursuing their passions. narayana works as an environmental activist. >> i spend a lot of time going to rallies, going to protests. >> reporter: eddie, the second to the youngest, is an aspiring musician, obsessed with '80's music. bhagavan, the oldest, is a yoga instructor, and a member of the

new york hip-hop dance conservatory. two years ago, if you asked me to dance or to do something. i would not do it. so hip-hop dance -- it allowed me to be a lot more comfortable. >> reporter: and mukunda is working as a production assistant. he's also directing short films. this one stars his family. >> that was good. moving on. >> reporter: and all of the brothers are still obsessed with the movies, what got them through the darkest times. so we decided to make a dream of theirs come true. we organized a lunch, making sure to hide what was really on the menu. a surprise introduction to a man who was their lifeline in those dark days locked in their apartment. hey, guys. i need all your attention for one second. i have somebody i want you to meet. wolfpack, meet robert de niro.

their reaction, oscar worthy displays of shock. robert. govinda. >> hi. >> reporter: mukunda. they are tongue tied and star struck. >> we were just talking about you. >> reporter: after they sit, to break the ice, narayana asks the question crystal taught them to use when they first started talking to strangers. >> what are some of your favorite movies? >> i like, uh, you know, "lawrence of arabia," "on the waterfront," uh, what's the one with montgomery clifton, elizabeth taylor? >> oh, "place in the sun?" >> "place in the sun." >> reporter: wow. >> i mean, you seen more movies than i have i'm sure. >> reporter: just days before meeting robert de niro, the boys had actually filmed a tribute to him -- dressed in character, down to the hole on his cheek. reenacting their favorite scenes. >> get out of here. never rat on your friends, and

always keep your mouth shut. >> you don't hear the word no very often, do you? >> i hear it all the time. >> i made my payment last tuesday. what are you talking about? >> you, you guys know the -- the films that i've done. better than i do. >> that's right. >> reporter: they are all smiles for the photo op, and for the wolfpack, a simple "cheese" won't do. >> everybody say johnny boy. >> where's that from? >> "mean streets." >> reporter: once their idol leaves, the brothers erupt in joy and disbelief. >> holy [ bleep ]! >> reporter: hey, guys. >> i'm going to remember this forever. >> reporter: next, a cloud nine

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"20/20" continues, with the wolfpack. here again, elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: another impossible dream is about to take flight, the wolfpack brothers are boarding an airplane. our cameras rolling as they begin their journey from new york to michigan for an event more than 20 years in the making. >> we are all on our way to meet our family on my mom's side. >> reporter: a family they'd

only heard of, never met. >> nervous, excited. >> reporter: five years earlier this is what makunda shared with filmmaker crystal moselle. >> do you know who any of your relatives are? >> never met them. >> how come? >> because we've always been here. >> reporter: here, in their cramped apartment in which they were locked away for 14 years, the boys and their mother susanne cut off from her family for decades. >> i have not seen susanne for 23 years. >> they tried to find out, but no luck. >> it's overwhelming because we thought was susanne was dead. >> the love has not stopped. >> reporter: and now, "20/20" has arranged for everyone to meet. >> here we go. ready. >> reporter: 75 miles later, a first glimpse into their

mother's past. >> so this is how you grew up, all this land. >> yes. we used to play in woods like this and build forts. >> reporter: their destination? a little town on the shores of lake michigan called three oaks. its entire population is barely double that of the wolfpack's housing complex. susanne's family has prepared a classic midwestern picnic. tables loaded with food. they even made wolfpack family t-shirts. and as the car pulls up. >> yay! >> reporter: the enormity, the power of this moment is overwhelming. >> oh, shoot. >> what? >> look at that there's everybody, look at that. >> wait, i can't see. >> whoa. >> oh, my gosh. >> oh, dear. >> reporter: the brothers who quietly endured so much to make it this far must gather the strength to take that final step.

>> bro, hold my hand. oh, my god. >> let's go. hi, everybody. hi, mom. oh! >> are hugs okay? >> corey and jeff, they're from chicago. >> that's my dad. >> i'm govinda. >> you all lookalike to me. >> love the '80s. >> that's all him. >> all him. >> do you like motorhead? >> motorhead, twisted sister, rat. >> awesome. >> reporter: while new bonds are forged. >> reporter: old bonds are renewed. susanne spots her older sister, the maid of honor at her wedding.

>> i missed you. >> oh, i missed you too. i love you so much. >> reporter: they have 26 years of lost time to make up. >> oh, my gosh. you just don't know. you just don't know how many prayers. >> reporter: then a moment between makunda and his aunt jane. >> hi aunt jane. i'm makunda. >> reporter: jane knows none of this could have happened if makunda hadn't taken that giant step out of his apartment prison five years ago. >> that young man has a lot of courage. >> reporter: he, in essence, really kind of saved your sister's life. >> the whole family, he saved their whole life. >> reporter: what did you say to him about that? >> i thanked him for his courage. told him i loved him and i was so happy to finally meet him. >> reporter: like an explorer who's just discovered a continent, makunda is equally overcome. >> just taking it all in.

>> it feels like a whole new world just opened up. >> reporter: as the reunion winds down, susanne returns with her kids to a monument of her own childhood, the sand dunes where she used to play. it's a steep climb to the top, but susanne has surmounted challenges much higher. >> this is what your life means right now. to get to the top. >> i'm here. yes, yes. >> nice job. >> yeah, wow. >> reporter: even here, with the unmatched majesty of nature, susanne and the boys still rely on movies as their touchstone. >> you know what it's like? "the last of the mohicans." >> reporter: do the movie references never stop? >> they never stop. >> no, they don't.

>> reporter: you used to talk to your boys about let's pretend we're on top of a mountain. >> those big buildings might be other mountains. >> reporter: now you're really on a mountaintop with your kids. >> yes! it's like a, really a dream come true. feels great. >> reporter: finally. >> yes. >> reporter: i know a lot of people will wonder are these guys going to be okay? >> i think we're going to be more than okay. i think we're going to be great. >> absolutely. >> reporter: you're survivors. >> hell, yeah. >> reporter: what makes you guys so strong? i have to ask. >> this woman right over there. >> mom. >> mom's love. >> reporter: really? i don't think a mom could hear a nicer thing than that. >> yes. yeah. that's true. >> reporter: the day ends at this campground. susanne introducing her kids to a simple and sacred family ritual, roasting marshmallows by the fire. >> the key to doing it is like you put it on the edge of the

fire where it's hot and you turn them so they like toast light brown. >> reporter: at long last, the wolfpack are back in the wild. their future as wide open as the night sky. ♪ >> reporter: nobody has been impacted negatively by that experience of having to be inside all that time? >> well, no, we don't have time for that. >> life is too short. >> live it up. just live it up. live every moment. ♪ >> whoo!

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aveeno® skin brightening scrub to clean and gently exfoliate. aveeno® naturally beautiful results®. that documentary about the brothers, which has been getting rave reviews opens around the country today. >> and our question for you at home, could you be as forgiving as those brothers? use #abc2020. i know you loved them. >> they're quite a group of young men. >> i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. have a great night and a great weekend. next on "action news" a avalanche not of snow and 10,000

people forced from their homes. avalanche not of snow and 10,000 people forced from their homes. plus father's day accuweather ♪ your dad just kissed my mom. ♪ turning two worlds into one takes love. ♪ helping protect that world takes state farm. >> came together tonight thousands of people mourners tuille remember nine people struck down amid an explosion