Five Years (2013) Plot Summary Explained

Murat Kurnaz was arrested and transferred to Guantanamo Bay despite being a German citizen of Turkish descent with no connection to any terrorist organization. The film explains that he was apprehended without any explanation, evidence, or formal charges, and was simply handed over to the US detention system where he became ensnared in the Guantanamo Bay facility.

Foreshadowing: The film opens by establishing Murat's innocent youth, finishing school, getting his driving license, experiencing first love, before his abrupt arrest, emphasizing how his ordinary life was suddenly ripped away.

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• guantanamo bay detention
• arbitrary arrest
• no evidence

Murat Kurnaz was held at Guantanamo Bay for exactly 1727 days, which equates to nearly five years. Of those 1727 days, he spent one full year in complete isolation, cut off from all human contact and any form of stimulation.

• 1727 days detention
• five years guantanamo
• Murat Kurnaz timeline
• prolonged detention

Murat Kurnaz was never charged, never received a trial, and was never afforded the opportunity to defend himself. The film portrays this as a fundamental feature of the Guantanamo system, detainees were held indefinitely without legal due process, allowing the US to circumvent standard legal protections and the rule of law.

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• indefinite detention
• due process violation
• legal rights denied

During his year of complete isolation, Murat was held in a six-square-meter cell with no one to talk to, nothing to read, no phone, computer, iPod, television, radio, or any activity. Psychiatrists warn that such sensory deprivation should not last longer than a day, yet Murat endured it for a full year, causing severe psychological damage.

• isolation guantanamo
• sensory deprivation
• solitary confinement
• psychological torture

Interrogators repeatedly pressured Murat to confess to an alleged collaboration with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, despite having no credible evidence. The film shows that the interrogations aimed to coerce a confession rather than uncover truth, using torture, humiliation, and mistreatment to extract answers that would justify his detention.

• taliban confession
• coerced confession
• interrogation torture
• false allegations

Sabin Willett is a lawyer who publicly challenged the Guantanamo detention regime. In 2008, she spoke at a hearing in Washington, D.C., recounting Murat's case and highlighting the rights violations detainees faced. Her intervention anchors the film in the broader political and legal debate surrounding Guantanamo Bay.

• sabin willett
• lawyer guantanamo
• legal challenge
• detainee rights

The film portrays Guantanamo as a system that undermines the very rule of law it claims to defend. Murat's case illustrates how the facility operates without charges, trials, or accountability, detaining people indefinitely based on alleged connections with no evidence required. The narrative frames this as the system spinning away from justice into absurdity.

• guantanamo critique
• rule of law
• systemic failure
• detention without trial

Murat endured relentless torture, mistreatment, humiliation, and interrogation designed to break him mentally and force a confession. Combined with the year of total isolation and the constant uncertainty of his fate, the film details how his prolonged detention caused severe physical and psychological damage.

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• psychological abuse
• detention suffering
• human rights abuse

Murat's five-year ordeal serves as a warning about the collective neglect of justice. The film concludes that his case exemplifies how the Guantanamo system can turn against the very principles it purports to defend, leaving viewers to reflect on accountability, reform, and the erosion of legal protections.

• justice system
• accountability
• rule of law
• detainee rights violation