Is No One Saw Us Leave on Netflix based on a true story?

Netflix viewers have been moved by the streamer's original factual drama No One Saw Us Leave, which follows a mother's desperate bid to be reunited with her kidnapped children.

In this astonishing the case, the kidnapper is their very own father, Leo (Emiliano Zurita), who absconds with the two young children after discovering that his wife, Valeria (Tessa Ia), has been having an affair with his brother.

Outraged by the severe breach of trust, he takes their kids – Tamara (Marion Sirot) and Isaac (Alexander Varela) – out of the country, while his family in their Mexican hometown set about destroying Valeria's reputation in their community.

This dramatisation is derived from Tamara's memoir, written decades later, which recounts the heartbreaking story from the perspective of a young girl who couldn't possibly understand the gravity of her situation.

Read on for more on the true story behind No One Saw Us Leave on Netflix.

Is No One Saw Us Leave on Netflix based on a true story?

Yes, No One Saw Us Leave is based on the true story of Tamara Trottner and her brother, Isaac, as recounted in the former's autobiography Nadie nos vio partir.

The book was first published in Spanish and has yet to be translated to English, although don't be surprised if that winds up happening off the back of this Netflix adaptation.

In the source material, Trottner recalls her experience as a young girl ripped away from her mother for reasons she wouldn't fully understand until much later.

As depicted in the series, the marriage between her parents was a loveless arrangement, and this eventually drives Valeria (as played by Tessa Ia) to an adulterous relationship with her own brother-in-law, Carlos (Gustavo Bassani).

When their secret is exposed, Valeria's husband Leo and his powerful family seek to destroy her life, by taking her children away from her and soiling her reputation among the close-knit Mexican Jewish community that they belong to.

The children were initially told that they were going on an impromptu holiday, but the dark truth of the matter became increasingly apparent as time wore on.

Trottner describes her kidnapping by her father, which took place when she was only five years old, as the "last day of my childhood" and the book synopsis (translated from Spanish) powerfully summarises her harrowing situation.

"For a five-year-old girl, it's difficult to understand that her life is being shaken by a whirlwind of love and hate, revenge and protection, compelling yet opposing truths: hating the one she loves most, trusting the one who has lied to her," it reads.

Valeria is not minded to passively accept the snatching away of her children, however, and enlists help from a private investigator and former Mossad agent in a desperate bid to locate their whereabouts.

But Leo will not make it easy for them, taking his children to Europe and, later, Israel as he races to get as far away from Valeria as he can, and prevent her from ever reuniting with her son or daughter.

What happened to Leo Saltzman?

Leo Saltzman's kidnapping of his own children spanned several months, but came to an abrupt end when a Jerusalem court ordered him to return to Mexico in order to face a custody trial.

Valeria regained custody of her children, and they did not see their father again for the next two decades as they grappled with the trauma of their abduction by his hand.

What happened to Tamara Trottner?

Tamara Trottner (née Saltzman) has gone on to become a successful writer, penning two books including her aforementioned memoir which serves as the basis of Netflix's No One Saw Us Leave.

Her follow-up book, titled Pronunciaré sus nombres, is also inspired by her own family history, shifting attention to her grandparents and their experiences as refugees who fled to America in order to escape rising antisemitism in Europe.

No One Saw Us Leave is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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