''James' Journey to Jerusalem'' () is a 2003 Israeli film directed by

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz 'Ra'anan Alexandrowicz'' (; born August 29, 1969) is a director, screenwriter and editor. He was born in Jerusalem. He is known for the documentary ''The Law in These Parts'' (2011), for which he received the Grand Jury Award at the Sundance Film ...

and produced by

Renen Schorr Renen Schorr (; 6 July 1952 – 26 February 2025) was an Israeli film director, screenwriter, producer and activist. In 1989, he founded Israel's first independent, national school for film and television, the Sam Spiegel Film and Television Sch ...

.Scott, A.O
"FILM REVIEW; For One Earnest Pilgrim, No Land of Milk and Honey"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. March 5, 2004. URL retrieved November 23, 2006.

Plot

The film's plot focuses on an African teenager named James (Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe), who goes on a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

on behalf of his village. Upon arriving in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, James is suspected to be an illegal foreign worker and, as a result, is arrested. Shimi (Salim Daw), a contractor of foreign workers, releases him on bail to work with him. After James explains to him that he did not travel to Israel to work, Shimi clarifies to him that since he paid for his release, James now owes him. Therefore, James is forced to interrupt his journey and begin working for Shimi. Shimi tries to gain a profit at James' expense and makes him work for other people as well. Shimi's wife sees him as a kind of an amusement. Salah, Shimi's father, soon discovers that James is exceptionally lucky rolling dice and he decides to exploit this in order to win in

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

games against his friends. James hopes to pay his debt to Shimi so that he can finally reach Jerusalem, but as time passes he learns how to conduct with the locals. Salah keeps telling good-hearted and guileless James "Don't be a ''frayer'' (sucker)", and eventually James ceases to be one:"James' Journey to Jerusalem"
, an interview by Liza Béar he starts managing his foreign worker friends, and soon he becomes a cheap labor contractor himself, just like Shimi. James buys himself nice clothes, a mobile phone and a TV. As a result, he forgets about the pilgrimage. Eventually James remembers the original reason for which he arrived in Israel, but it is already too late – he is arrested by the immigration police and transferred to an Israeli prison. The prison is located in the

Russian Compound The Russian Compound (; ; ) is one of the oldest districts in central Jerusalem, featuring a large Russian Orthodox church, the Russian-owned Sergei's Courtyard and the premises of the Russian Consulate General in Jerusalem, as well as the si ...

in Jerusalem, and so as he is handcuffed, James finally gets to see the city for which his village prays to.

Film history

Alexandrowicz said that the plot was inspired by a true history of a Nigerian man he knew, who came to Israel on a tourist visa and became an illegal worker. He changed the nationality of James to Zulu intending for James to be from the place most remote from Western culture values. Accordingly, he picked the actor, Siyabonga Shibe, from South Africa. The situation described in the film is quite uncommon, but legally possible: after an arrest for an illegal stay in Israel, a person is either deported or someone may post a bail and give a work permit.

Cast

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James' Journey To Jerusalem 2003 films 2000s Hebrew-language films Zulu-language films 2003 drama films Israeli drama films Films about immigration 2003 multilingual films Israeli multilingual films 2000s English-language films