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JAMES' JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM Send This Review to a Friend
Poor James. Enthusiastic, dedicated and optimistic, the young man leaves his African village to follow his dream of going to Jerusalem in a pilgrimage to express his Christian faith. His odyssey is interrupted on his arrival in Tel Aviv when he is imprisoned as an illegal by immigration authorities. James, played with captivating openness and charm by Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe, is about to learn a lot about life.
He immediately is exploited by Shimi (Salim Daw), a coarse, hustling businessman who bails him out but in effect imprisons him as an exploited worker, along with others who have fallen into the unscrupulous hands of those who make a living out of taking advantage of newcomers. James is sent out on various jobs under strict scrutiny and must return to the hovel in which he and the others are housed. A pattern of racism hovers over their fate.
Shimi also farms him out to do gardening for Sallah, his elderly and demanding father, a gruff but worldly wise character played by Arie Elias, and although it's another exploitative situation, James and Sallah begin to get on well, although the old man's racist attitude toward a black immigrant remains. But a human bond is formed between them, with a touch of warmth in contrast to the unscrupulous way in which Shimi is trying to get his father to sell his property in a moneymaking scheme. Sallah becomes James' mentor.
James is also taken advantage of by housewives who hire him to clean their homes for a fraction of what he should earn. Probably if anybody but a Jewish director had made the film, there might be an outcry against depicting so many Israelis this way. Even so, anti-Israel viewers may see it as a vindication of their beliefs. But the film reflects a condition faced by immigrants the world over, and it is clear that the main thrust is to show a universal corruption of values, even within families, and the film emerges as a larger-than-life fable examining the quest for material success.
Accordingly, James learns to exploit others by becoming an entrepreneur himself and contracting immigrants just has he has been contracted. But will he ever fulfill his aim of getting to Jerusalem? And what will he be like if he gets there?
Directed by Israeli filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sami Duenias, "James' Journey to Jerusalem" is a well-made work enhanced by a winsome protagonist and one roots for him to complete his goal before his innocence is completely crushed. James is a quick learner and the sort who can come up smiling in the worst of situations. At times the film is quite funny, but it never veers from its tough view of human decency being under constant assault by materialism and racial and class divisions. A Zeitgeist Films release.
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