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Film Review: James' Journey to Jerusalem By Anna Darrah, March 5, 2004

With all this talk about Mel's Passion, audiences should be happy to discover a truly spiritual film about to be theatrically released called "James' Journey to Jerusalem." Don't worry, it's not about Christ. It's about an incredibly beautiful Zulu man (played by Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe) who is on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as a sort of holy man in-training for his people. Arriving in Israel he is jailed for being an illegal immigrant, but is soon semi rescued by a Jewish businessman who regularly pays the jailers for supplying him with an illegal work force for his cleaning business. James is freed into a sort of indentured servitude, but stays devout in his beautiful and inspiring need to continue in his pilgrimage to Jerusalem as he learns the ways of this urban black market business. Untill he discovers consumerism. It is amazing to watch a film where the tragedy, the thing that makes your stomach sink with sadness, is the main character's journey to the mall.

James' journey through this film is complicated, and quickly becomes a metaphor for all of our journeys in life; trying to navigate between getting what we want physically and the desire to feel fulfilled by higher purpose. It's about everyman's struggle in this modern age of being torn by the desire for the monetary and societal rewards heaped upon those of us who excel in this life and the desire to totally and completely surrender ourselves to being led by a higher source. There are no easy answers, and weirdly enough, no bad guys in this film. Somehow the director evokes compassion for every character in the film, even those who at first seem really scary. There is also no violence or sex. And it's a great movie! Filmed completely in Israel, in about 7 different languages, with English subtitles, this is a film you must see. It is as rewarding theatrically as it is spiritually, and comes at a time when we are all on James' Journey. Maybe we really can learn something from film!