Why did Leo Saltzman take the children in Netflix's No One Saw Us Leave?

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from No One Saw Us Leave on Netflix

Netflix's latest gripping drama, No One Saw Us Leave, is enthralling viewers worldwide, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The five-part series is an adaptation of the 2020 memoir Nadie Nos Vio Partir by Tamara Trottner, which recounts her and her brother's abduction by their father Leo Saltzman (Emiliano Zurita) at the tender age of five.

Boasting a stellar Mexican cast, the series follows the desperate attempts of mother Valeria Goldberg (Tessa Ia) to reclaim her children Isaac (Alexander Varela) and Tamara (Marion Siro) over a two-year period.

Meanwhile, Leo whisks the children away first to France, then Italy, and finally Israel, maintaining his grip on them.

Viewers are intrigued to understand why Leo abducted the children in the first place.

Why did Leo take the kids in No One Saw Us Leave?

As depicted in the Netflix series, Leo abducts the children after discovering Valeria's affair with his brother-in-law Carlos (Gustavo Bassani).

Spurred on by his father Samuel Saltzman (Juan Manuel Bernal), who provides the financial means, Leo moves the children from one country to another.

Samuel and Leo aim to punish Valeria for her infidelity by taking the children away.

In the series, Valeria delivers a heartfelt plea in a hair salon to her mother-in-law and the women of her tight-knit Mexican-Jewish community, imploring them for assistance.

Valeria reveals that she was coerced into marriage at the age of 18 in an arranged match, subsequently having children.

She revealed: "I fell in love for the first time and as a punishment they took my children."

This statement encapsulates why her children were taken away from her.

The affair also had repercussions on Samuel's daughter Gabriela (Natasha Dupeyron), who was wedded to Carlos and shared children with him.

Gabriela is left heartbroken by her husband's infidelity, which in the show seems to be part of Samuel's revenge plot.

However, the series also depicts Leo striving to establish his own identity, independent of his father and family's influence.

During his journey from Mexico to Europe and subsequently to South Africa, Leo embarks on a new chapter. He becomes an activist and even begins giving lectures.

Later, when South Africa becomes increasingly dangerous due to escalating Apartheid tensions, Leo relocates the children to Israel.

Once again, Leo appears more liberated from the shackles of his past life, managing to construct a new life and identity for himself.

In the process of writing her book, author Trottner consulted her family members, including her mother, brother Isaac and father, who was still alive at that point.

With their assistance and her own recollections, she attempted to reconstruct the story.

In a conversation with Pasajes Magazine, Trottner mentioned that during a meeting with her father, he questioned why she was dredging up the past again and making the children feel unloved by their mother once more.

The remainder of her interactions with her father centred more on rebuilding their relationship rather than delving into the past.

Much of the novel draws from Trottner's recollections as a five year old, spending time with her father and brother.

Tamara and Isaac were ultimately reunited with their mother Valeria, but it would be two decades before they reconnected with Leo.

No One Saw Us Leave is streaming on Netflix now