Title DossierDocumentary

The Motive

DocumentaryCrimeMystery

In Jerusalem 1986, a 14-year-old boy shoots his family point-blank in their beds. Yet questions persist. In this docuseries, insiders come forward.

Year

2021

IMDb

5.3

Poster Feed

Cast

TS

Tali Shemesh

Director

AS

Asaf Sudri

Director

Avi Samuel

Self - Youth Investigator, Jerusalem Police Dept.

Cast

TS

Tali Shemesh

Director

AS

Asaf Sudri

Director

Avi Samuel

Self - Youth Investigator, Jerusalem Police Dept.

Yossi Arnon

Self - Defense Attorney

Yossi Cohen

Self - Head of Investigations, Jerusalem Police

Haim Siani

Self - Forensics Detective

Shmuel Tiano

Self - Psychiatrist

Mazal Freige

Self - Teacher

Adi Sabag

Self - Classmate

Irit Hachham Shalev

Self - Classmate

Ofer Calaf

Self - Neighbor

Shmuel Chefer

Self - Teacher at Reform School

Eli Herskovitz

Self - Press Photographer

Shoshana Calaf

Self - Neighbor

Rakefet Kabesa

Self - Classmate

Ruthie Yovel

Self - Journalist

Yehudit Pops

Self - School Counselor

Yehoshua Feznik

Self - Prosecutor

Lea Lecher

Self - Co-Worker

SC

Shira Cohen

Self - Murdered Sister

TS

Tali Shemesh

Writer

AS

Asaf Sudri

Writer

Trailer

You Might Also Like

Documentary★ 5.3

The Motive

Documentary★ 5.4

Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star

Documentary★ 7.3

Wild Crime

Documentary★ 6.8

Where Is Marta?

Documentary★ 7.1

Worst Roommate Ever

Documentary★ 7.5

History's Greatest Heists

Documentary★ 7.6

People Magazine Investigates

Documentary★ 7.1

Snapped: Killer Couples

Documentary★ 6.4

Mafia: Most Wanted

Documentary★ 7.5

Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins

Documentary★ 7.4

The Confession Killer

Documentary★ 7.1

The Ripper

Documentary★ 7.0

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness

Documentary★ 6.3

The Friday the 13th Murders

Documentary★ 6.6

Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia

Documentary★ 6.9

When Missing Turns to Murder

Documentary★ 6.5

I Am a Stalker

Documentary★ 6.5

Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer

Documentary★ 7.5

The Devil Next Door

Documentary★ 7.4

Who Killed Little Gregory?

Documentary★ 6.8

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork

Documentary★ 5.4

Can I Tell You a Secret?

Documentary★ 5.8

Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer

Documentary★ 7.0

Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom

Featured Picks

Looking for more entertainment? Explore our recommended gaming hub and short-drama destination.

Instant Games

Gamixo

Play casual browser games with puzzles, cards, sports, and quick challenges ready in seconds.

Short Drama

VSKIT Drama

Watch trending mini-series, romance stories, and fresh short dramas with fast daily updates.

Comments

10 Comments

فاتي🇲🇦❤️Mar 22, 2025

MULAMWAH™Mar 22, 2025

SafaeMar 22, 2025

bereketMar 22, 2025

real Madrid fansMay 19, 2023

🇲🇷PRINCESITO🕺🏻Apr 28, 2023

What a waste of time. Horribly edited, lacks any narrative, structure or satisfying conclusion. I regret watching it. Now, you could say the story is somewhat interesting, but it is nowhere as mysterious as they want it to be. This is not the first time a psychopathic child murders their family for "no apparent" reason. Even his defence lawyer said that the child wanted the verdict to be "manslaughter", and not "murder", so that he could inherit the family possessions. Is this not a motive? After getting the reduced manslaughter sentence, he says "life starts at 20", implying he will get out of prison and start living on a blank slate with the money and properties his family had. He never showed any regret or remorse. What a mystery.

ThickleeyonceApr 28, 2023

He did it because he wanted to know what it is like to shoot them. Plain and simple. That idiot laywer is just creating confusion and a lot of smoke. But the answer is simple.

MeryteshApr 28, 2023

A psychopath killing his whole family is being idealized just because he's brilliant. He is presented as the victim and a hero. Not a single respect is paid to those who lost their life. Point is there is no motive cause boy is just a psychopath who had urges to killed. And to the producers, please do anything else but stop making docuseries please. It was very bad.

davidoApr 28, 2023

The biggest issue I have with this docuseries is the interview process - or at least what's visible to us. The questions are closed-ended or loaded with preconceptions or not provocative enough. It's like just seeking confirmation for whatever the interviewees had planned to say. A good interviewer should be both provocative and able to put people at ease so that interviewees would reveal more of what they're thinking/feeling (there are a few brief moments in which they managed to do that, but the rest of the interview is just a disappointment). Also, they should always press for something more concrete from the interviewees, especially those considered to be experts or authorities - there's a lot of flowery language and swelling emotions, but not much substance. Like the lawyer who thinks he knew the motive, sure, but maybe wonder why his opinion holds any weight as he's not a psychiatrist? Or how he drew his conclusions? Or the psychiatrist, who admitted we have better understanding of mental states now than before, sure, what are the developments? What are the studies, terminologies, examples, etc? What are the philosophies on children crimes, mental health, family dynamics, military, gun control, Israeli state at that time, etc? For me, there are two possible reasons why he could've committed such heinous crimes - one influenced by external forces, and the other internal. External forces could be: abuses sustained by him or any of his family members (little evidence of that), delirium caused by rage or any extreme emotion (not found), or brain tumours (for example, see Charles Whitman; even though this is internal of the murderer, it's out of his control, hence can be considered as external, this isn't mentioned in the show). Then, there are the potential internal forces: narcissism, psychopathy, etc. One might find it hard to imagine, but you're never in the head of a psychopath, the problem isn't that they think about doing evil things all the time, it's that evil deeds don't bother them because they're not emotionally affected by it. And one always seeks for outward traits of devil (as suggested by many authorities in the show), as if there's a stereotypical face caused by psychopathy. What are you looking for, a "666" tattoo? For instance, Chris Watts, who murdered his wife and daughters simply because he wanted to leave them behind and start a new life with another woman, he could also be thought as just a regular Joe. You would think the means are way too extreme for the ends, but that's not how they see it. One of my theories is that the murderer actually felt suffocated by the attention and affection that he's showered with, and could be feeling like everyone's baby, which he despised (the journalist - if she could be trusted - mentioned something along the lines that he felt that he could only be a real grown up without his family). Lastly, there are the technical parts... first, why is it cut into 4 short episodes? Is it necessary? Or it makes the blatant repetitions of images and sentiments less egregious? Then the narrative, music... are all quite hackneyed. They aren't bad, just a little pedestrian for such a compelling story. The show seems like just a cool presentation of what people can already guess/know, they should ask more probing questions, shine light on more perspectives (with real studies to back it up). As it stands, it seems more like a he-said-she-said gossip story.

Arpeet NepalApr 28, 2023

Kept showing the same scenes over and over again , and to this day no one knows the motive. A horrific crime like the one committed should have been far more compelling, instead it became boring .