The six Angulo brothers were kept in their family's small NYC apartment for fourteen years. The brothers, along with their mother and sister, were rarely allowed to leave.

Photos by Dan Martensen

It was their father who insisted they stay inside except for occasional, supervised trips. They were homeschooled and had practically no way of learning about the outside world. 

What the brothers did have, however, was movies. They absolutely loved any movie they could get their hands on, watching and rewatching their favorites. 

"There were some years we didn't go outside at all," Narayana, one of the brothers, tole the New York Daily News. Because of this, they had to rely on movies and their imaginations to transport them to other worlds.

The time they didn't spend watching movies they spent organizing amazingly detailed recreations of them, word for word, with all kinds of homemade props, sets and costumes. A couple of their favorites were Reservoir Dogs and The Dark Knight.

Filmmaker Crystal Moselle met the Angulo brothers on the street in 2010, during one of their first outings alone. "They were all dressed in black, with long hair," Moselle told the New York Daily News. "I instinctually ran after them to talk. They asked what I did. When I told them, they said they're interested in filmmaking, too."

Moselle ended up making a documentary about the boys, called The Wolfpack, which won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. All of a sudden, their inner life was on the big screen. 

Moselle introduced photographer Dan Martensen to the boys, who published a book of portraits of the brothers called Wolves Like Us. These photos capture their homemade world of movie magic as well as their experiences once they left their apartment.

Since the film and book came out, the brothers' lives have transformed. Narayana's twin, Govinda, now lives in his own Brooklyn apartment and works as a cinematographer. 

Despite the publicity and the rapid change in pace of these boys' lives, they're still the same at heart. "In spite of all the massive change in their lives externally, they remained the same kind, empathetic, sweet, and gold-hearted guys they were when I met them," Martensen told Slate. "They are good to the core, and the last five years proves that nothing can or ever would change that."

Photos courtesy of Dave Martensen

Check out the whole book of photos, Wolves Like Us, and Moselle's documentary about the brothers, The Wolfpack.