>> reporter: tonight, on "20/20." they are the angulo brothers, better known as "the wolfpack." and their tale of family, fortitude, and survival is now known around the world thanks to an acclaimed new film. it's brought them from isolation into the spotlight. meeting celebrities, traveling overseas, even sharing their new found fame in a ted-x teen talk, >> your imagination is your freedom. >> reporter: but that freedom was hard won and their story, stranger than fiction. far away from the flashing lights and paparazzi is public housing, where the secret world of the wolfpack first unfolded. in the gritty chaos of new

york's lower east side, for more than a decade behind these windows, almost no one knew they existed. locked away, unseen, unheard, unknown. >> 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 and 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.

re-enacted them. even costumed themselves in imitation, like travolta and jackson in "pulp fiction." tonight, a story about the power of film, of imagination, and the wolfpack's astonishing journey to freedom. >> it's now or never. >> good evening, i'm elizabeth vargas. just weeks ago, that acclaimed film received an mtv nomination for an award. becoming their own movie, and no one could have predicted the changes in store for them. back where their incredible story began. >> reporter: it's a new york city public housing development, home to some 800 people.

i am a rare visitor to the apartment where the angulo family lives. >> come on in. >> reporter: 21-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 wife and children 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 the first child and only daughter. born with a rare genetic disorder. a year later came bhagavan, and a year later fraternal twins, govinda and narayana. where 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 young 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 decide. 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: here, there were rules about what 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 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 would use it. >> reporter: wow. narayana, 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 machu 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 from home schooling. 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. >> 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. 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: 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' one true escape, was movies.

how many hours a day would you watch these movies? >> all day. >> reporter: all day? >> every 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. >> 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 sustaining life inside the walls. creating a world of their own, by recreating the movies they love. until the day when that's no longer enough, and one brave brother decides it's time for his own great escape. >> it's now or never, i'm going to do it now. >> reporter: stay with us. [ female announcer ] it can

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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." >> "the 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 super fly, 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. >> reporter: "inglourious basterds." is this -- how many scenes in the movie is this? >> oh, 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." >> please hold me. >> reporter: from "pulp fiction." >> don't be looking at me like that. >> reporter: "batman." every punch choreographed. 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 then just color all of it. >> reporter: that's great. >> when we do it i have to get into the mind of the character. i play batman, it's a responsibility sort of that might sound pathetic to some people because but to us and to our world it is 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, uh, 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. like if we hear, yelling or like loud music we'd be like, uh, that sounds a little bit like

"goodfellas" partying, maybe -- maybe robert deniro's living in there, or maybe this is him here. >> sort of what you miss out on you make up in fantasy. >> reporter: for 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 meyers from the movie halloween. >> so there's no way he'd be able to recognize that it was me. >> reporter: right. and then 15-year-old mukunda opens the front door. down the 16 flights of stairs. >> my heart started pounding as i was going down the steps. >> reporter: 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? >> mm-hmm, yes. >> reporter: but you kept walking. >> i did. and as i recall, i, i knew which window was ours and i saw my brothers looking out. >> reporter: you came out, turned the corner, turned left. >> i turned left, yes. >> 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. makunda is 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: he spends a week at the hospital. when he returns, there is 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 3d, 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. your body was made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist

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>> 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 3d, 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 meet, and soon the brothers invite her for dinner at their apartment. she has no idea that she is the first outside ever allowed into

the 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 like one of their first friends, and that was a huge, like, "what?" >> reporter: you didn't know that. >> i was your first friend? >> reporter: crystal only gradually learns about the confines of the boys' childhood. she starts documenting as they experience life 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. and very chemical. >> chemical? >> tastes like a chemical. >> reporter: and perhaps most momentous, their first time to 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 -- they would express, "oh, we -- we've never been to the beach." i said, "let's go, i'll follow you to the beach." >> reporter: at the beach, for the first time, they feel the sand in their toes, taste the salt in the air. >> it was kind of like this like baptism as they're, like, crashing in the water for the first time, and it's 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. >> 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 the boys look like a pack of wolves, and the nickname sticks. all the while, they become more accustomed to the outside world. 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. [ laughter ] >> 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 that," and not everything -- not everything's a plan, in other words, in life. >> reporter: nobody's -- everybody's not following a script? >> exactly. >> everything moves slower.

>> reporter: you need life to be edited a little bit better. their freedom brings transformation. the youngest, jagadish 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? of -- >> right. like, it was -- >> reporter: leaving the past behind? >> yeah, 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? >> their 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.

>> yes, i feel now like i've -- 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, uh -- 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 want to say, i love

you so much, mom. i just love you so much. >> 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. and the angulo brothers, once hidden away, find fame on the red carpet. and a dream meeting -- wolfpack, i have somebody i want you to meet. >> reporter: -- with a man who had been a lifeline more than a decade, but never knew it. stay with us. (music plays)

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see store for coupon. when it comes to the fithings you love,. you want more. love romance? get lost in every embrace. into sports? follow every pitch, every play and every win. change the way you experience tv with x1 from xfinity. ♪ >> reporter: the documentary "the wolfpack" has won awards on the festival circuit. and the angulo brothers have gone from seclusion to stardom.

the brothers who once couldn't imagine speaking to strangers, no less girls, pose with movie stars. >> 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: narayana's twin brother 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. he shares 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." >> because deniro 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 someplace to go.

>> reporter: it's a feeling govinda has finally shed. five years after he was scribbling notes on filmmaking. learning how to press record. govinda is 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 youngest, is an aspiring musician obsessed with '80s music. bhagavan, the oldest, is a yoga instructor, and he's a teacher with the new york hip-hop dance conservatory. >> 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. >> look directly at the camera. wait, cut. 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 deniro. >> reporter: their reaction, oscar worthy displays of shock.

>> robert, govinda. >> reporter: mukunda. they are tongue tied and star struck. 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 deniro, the boys had actually filmed a tribute to him dressed in character, down to the mole on his cheek, re-enacting their favorite scenes. >> never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut. why didn't you make your payment

last week. >> 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 their photo op and for the wolfpack, a simple "cheese" won't do. >> everybody say johnny boy. >> johnny boy. >> where's that from? >> "mean streets." >> reporter: once their idol leaves the brothers erupt in joy and disbelief. [ applause ] hey, guys. i am so glad you loved it. you are so welcome. >> i'm going to remember this forever. >> reporter: next, a cloud nine of a different sort. >> hi, everybody! >> reporter: and another pinnacle for the family to reach. >> it's really a dream come true. >> reporter: stay with us.

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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 her but no luck. >> it's overwhelming because we thought 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 from chicago, 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. >> wait, i can't see. >> oh, my gosh. >> oh, dear. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the brothers who quietly endured so much to make it this far must gather the strength to take that final step. >> let's go. >> so that's my dad. >> this is my daughter chyanne. >> hi nice to meet you.

>> you all look alike to me. >> that's all him. >> that's all me all the way. >> do you like motorhead? >> motorhead, twisted sister, rat. >> awesome. >> reporter: while new bonds are forged -- >> here's your t-shirt. >>it's official. >> reporter: old bonds are renewed. susanne spots her older sister joyce. susanne was the maid of honor at her wedding. >> oh, my god. 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. >> 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: makunda. 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. >> yes.

i'm here, yes, yes. >> reporter: 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. >> 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. >> answer, 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. ♪ [ howling ] >> reporter: next, one brother takes a big step. more on the wolfpack's new lives. for a limited time, you can get a great deal on this passat. wow, it looks really good... volkswagen believes safety is very important... so all eleven models come standard with an intelligent crash response system... hmm. ...seven stability-enhancing systems... hmmm... ...and equipment for two child seats.

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thiand being able to use've worked oa pen like thisk. on the screen directly with the image, it takes me back to my time as a painter. and i just can't do that on my mac. so you don't have to stop., tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. reporter: the wolfpack's new lives have expanded far beyond their small apartment. they are now a whirlwind of activity and adventure. >> it's been a really fun ride,

it's been nonstop, a lot of great experiences. >> reporter: they've seen the stars on hollywood boulevard, and met them. posing for pictures with actors like christian slater and mark ruffalo. and the wolfpack has been traveling the world. their press tour taking them from abbey road to the coliseum. each new place, a touchstone to a treasured movie. >> london reminded us of films such as "oh lucky man," "harry potter." >> reporter: and there have been plenty of firsts. govinda has a new passion. >> experiencing crazy roller coasters. it's one of the most exciting things you can do. >> reporter: and mukunda, in addition to giving speeches, is learning another skill. >> i'm learning to drive a car. >> reporter: and girls? >> yeah, there's been a couple of romances in our lives. >> reporter: but the biggest voyage only took a few miles. narayana, who desperately dreamed of leaving the family's manhattan apartment, has finally moved out, to brooklyn. and he's cut his hair.

a freeing gesture that it turns out is a nod to yet another movie. >> he just wanted the "serpico" look. he's been wanting that for a long time. he's wanted a beard to go with it. >> reporter: he's now the second brother to be out on his own. and we wish them the best of luck. if you have haven't seen it, "the wolfpack" is now available on itunes, dvd, and netflix. from all of us, have a joyful easter weekend. coming up on "action news" tonight, unspeakable tragedy unfolding in wilmington, four dead, seven hospitalized.

and terrorist attack a soccer stadium near baghdad, it is all coming up next on "action news". a terrible tragedy is unfolding tonight inside of a delaware apartment building. four people, and a family dog are all dead, it appears they were poisoned to death by carbon monoxide.