James' Journey to Jerusalem

aka: Massa'ot James Be'eretz Hakodesh
Israel 2003, 87 minutes
Dir. Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
In English, Hebrew, Zulu with English subtitles
Rating: [M]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama, Comedy

Topics: Religion, Indigenous & Minority Cultures.

Feat. Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe

Aroview: A witty yet significant portrait of contemporary Israel that takes the form of a deceptively straightforward fable, charting the progress of a young Zulu man (Shibe), who is a devout Christian on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Reaching the Holy Land, he is immediately thrown in jail and enmeshed in the intricate ethnic politics of Israeli society. Eventually bailed out by an exploitative businessman, he slowly develops a wiser understanding of his predicament, the dir. revealing the manifold, and not uncomedic, ironies at work in the unusual state of Israel.