The four-part true crime documentary series ‘The Motive‘ was made by the Yes Docu production company and distributed to American audiences through Netflix.

One evening in 1986 Jerusalem, Israel, neighbors hear gunfire at the home of married couple Nissim and Leah Cohen. When the police arrive, they find the couple dead, along with their two daughters, but they find their oldest child, an anonymous teenaged son still alive. To the investigator’s shock, the boy confesses to the murder. He dances around motives, first claiming he had a vision from a movie and later that a “green monster” influenced. It sent shockwaves through Israel and stunned everyone, even his own loved ones as to why he did it.

As far as production values, it is very well made. The filmmakers interview the subjects such as his neighbors, relatives, investigators, and even his defense attorney. They do a good job of getting the burning questions to the viewers and I appreciated that. It definitely painted a good picture of the crime.

The docuseries kept the kid’s name anonymous as Israel has very strict laws protecting minors who have been accused and even sentenced as something as egregious as murder. This did not bother me in the slightest, I was still able to follow along.

As I watched the events unfold, I have to say, the behavior of the investigators stunned me. They let this murderous kid manipulate them. He took advantage of them and ran circles around them, never once showing regret. Even the judge seemed to sway for him. The accused claimed that there was abuse involved, but no evidence to show this. To me the motive was clear, his father was wealthy and he was greedy. The defense attorney outright says that the kid approached him and asked if he could get the charge reduced so he could claim his inheritance when he got out of prison. Yet, the investigators, prosecutor, the judge, and even the psychiatrist were all making excuses for him. I get it, he was a teen, but he slaughtered his whole family. That is the tragedy of this and they deserved justice, but his small nine-year sentence and his inheriting the money denied them justice.

Check out the trailer below:

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Discussion of violence, Disturbing topics, Gruesome images

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