Tv shows we love: No One Saw Us Leave

Imagine going on an exciting trip with your dad, only to find he is never taking you back to your mother. In Netflix’s Mexican thriller, No One Saw Us Leave, Leo discovers that his wife Valeria has been having an affair with his brother in law and as revenge decides to kidnap his children and leave the country. When Valeria realises, she spends years trying frantically to find her children.

Both Leo and Valeria’s families are wealthy so both sides receive extensive help to go about their schemes. What is interesting about this show, apart from the gripping chases and emotional storyline, is that it shows insights into the Jewish communities of Mexico in the 1960s. As a result, Leo secretly travels around Europe with his two young children, trying to get to a community in Israel.

In only five episodes, it felt frustrating to see how although it was Leo, the father, who planned a cruel kidnapping of his children, Valeria is made out to be the bag guy. Her actions in having the affair are held against her constantly, and she is shunned by the family, her social circle and friends. While Carlos, her lover and Leo’s brother in law, faces less of a backlash. A woman, yet again, a mother no less, is punished in the worst possible way. The show is slow-burning game of cat and mouse.

What was even more shocking to discover was that this is a true story and the Netflix show is based on the memoir, the daughter, Tamara Trottner, wrote in 2020 of the same name. She recounts her travels around the world and the impact this years-long pursuit had on her family relationships.

I won’t spoil the end, if Valeria is reunited with her children, but the ending is shocking as it reveals how many years the real-life Trottner children spent without seeing one of their parents and how they managed to leave without anyone seeing them.