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Five Years

Five Years (5 Jahre Leben)

Movie · 2013 · 4 people

Murat Kurnaz's autobiography Fünf Jahre meines Lebens (Five Years of My Life) is the basis of Five Years (German title 5 Jahre Leben), a German-French drama from 2013. It follows the years Kurnaz spent in Guantánamo, held innocent, and the psychological and physical violence he suffered there. The film is in German and English, runs about 96 minutes, and is a biographical prison drama built around the pressure of the interrogation room.

At its centre is Murat Kurnaz, a young man born in Bremen to a Turkish family, suspected of being an Islamist terrorist and held at Guantánamo without ever being formally charged. Sascha Alexander Geršak plays Murat. Ben Miles plays Gail Holford and John Keogh plays Smith, while Kerem Can appears as Serdal. Kida Khodr Ramadan, Şiir Eloğlu, Tayfun Bademsoy, Trystan Pütter and Christian Klischat are also in the cast.

Stefan Schaller directed and co-wrote the script with David Finck, in what was his first feature. The film premiered at the Max Ophüls Festival on 23 January 2013, opened in German cinemas on 23 May 2013 and came out on DVD on 29 November 2013.

DirectorStefan Schaller
Five Years (5 Jahre Leben) Five Years (5 Jahre Leben)

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Cast

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Kerem Can Kerem Can Actor · born 1977 Serdal Kida Khodr Ramadan Kida Khodr Ramadan Actor · 50 years old Şiir Eloğlu Şiir Eloğlu Actor · 60 years old Tayfun Bademsoy Tayfun Bademsoy Actor · 68 years old

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Through different eyes

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Five Years is based on a true story, told in Murat Kurnaz's own autobiography, about the years he was held at Guantánamo without ever being formally charged. A young man born in Bremen to a Turkish family, detained for years on suspicion of terrorism, shows how a detention system built in the name of fighting terror can collide with an individual's basic rights. The film also makes you think about how the background of a European with migrant roots can suddenly become a reason for suspicion. Because it builds events around the pressure of the interrogation room, it focuses on one person's experience rather than drawing a broad political picture. That choice is both its strength and its limit; viewers curious about the wider context may want to read Five Years of My Life as well.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Stefan Schaller's first feature, Five Years builds a biographical prison drama around the pressure of the interrogation room. The narrow frame looks like a deliberate choice: the more the narrative closes in, the more the viewer is made to share the prisoner's suffocating isolation. The film's weight naturally rests on Sascha Alexander Geršak as Murat, in a role that has to be played through the body and through silence more than through dialogue. The risk is repetition: similar moments of pressure following one another can weaken the sense of dramatic progression, which is why its roughly 96 minutes may feel long in places. Even so, this debut, which premiered at the Max Ophüls Festival, approaches a true story with disciplined seriousness rather than sensationalism.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Let me say it up front: this is not an action film. Don't expect chases or shoot-outs; the tension comes entirely from the interrogation room and from a man held for years though innocent. If you like that kind of pressure, it can be a gripping experience. But as someone who wants pace, I could find the long interrogation scenes heavy going at times. Be aware that there is violence and psychological abuse too.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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