Netflix’s new drama, No One Saw Us Leave, tells the gripping story of a mother’s pursuit of getting her kids back after their father kidnaps them.
While it’s fictional, the show is inspired by a real-life kidnapping that shook Mexico’s Jewish community in the 1960s.
Real-World Kidnapping Inspired Netflix’s No One Saw Us Leave
The story follows Valeria Goldberg, played by Tessa Ía, whose husband, Leo Saltzman (Emiliano Zurita), kidnaps their kids to get back at her for an alleged affair. Even after facing a ton of resistance from powerful people, social stigmas, the mother refuses to quit.
The series draws from Tamara Trottner’s real-life story. She and her brother were kidnapped by their father. Her memoir kicks off with the heartbreaking line: “I have just turned five. This is the last day of my childhood.”
No One Saw Us Leave is set in a tight-knit, moneyed Mexican Jewish world where power and money rule above all. The 1960s setting is perfect to show the pressures and expectations people faced back then.
The show does take some creative twists to keep things dramatic, but nonetheless, it’s based on the real-life story of Trottner and her family. The trailer already hints that the show is an emotional rollercoaster, meaning viewers will feel every fear, every heartbreak, and all the things the kids went through during their crisis.
The cast is looking strong too, with Flavio Medina, Alexander Varela Pavlov as young Isaac, Juan Manuel Bernal, Marion Sirot as young Tamara, Natasha Dupeyron, Gustavo Bassani, Mariana Di Girolamo, and Ari Brickman.
This isn’t the first time Netflix has turned a real-life kidnapping case into a show or docuseries. Take American Nightmare, one of Netflix’s most talked-about docuseries, which chronicles the kidnapping of Denise Huskins. She was taken by two men but, luckily, was released safely about 400 miles from where she was abducted.
The highly-awaited No One Saw Us Leave will premiere on Netflix on October 15.
