Massa'ot James Be'eretz Hakodesh (2003)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz

Writers:

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz (writer)
Sami Duenias (writer)

Release Date:

8 January 2004 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

During his journey to Jerusalem young James learns the meaning of being Israeli.

Awards:

8 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe	...	James
Salim Dau	...	Shimi Shabati
Arieh Elias	...	Sallah Shabati
Sandra Schonwald	...	Rachel
Hugh Masebenza	...	Skomboze
Florence Bloch	...	Re'uma
Ya'akov Ronen Morad	...	Police Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Moly Ashkenzi
Yitzchak Batal
Yehuda Cohen
Yonatan Dani
Yenbar Grayfe
Yael Levental	...	Immigration Officer
David Nabegamabo	...	Pastor
Pascal I. Newton	...	Job
Becki Osterzetzer
Yael Parter
Michael Rizel
Baruch Sasson
Gregory Tal	...	Feda

Also Known As:

James' Journey to Jerusalem (International: English title)

Runtime:

91 min | France:90 min (Cannes Film Festival) | USA:87 min

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew | English | Zulu

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | USA:Unrated | Brazil:14 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Tel Aviv, Israel

Company:

Lama Productions

Trivia:

At one point during the movie, James is wearing a t-shirt that says (in Hebrew) "Jerusalem 2000".

Soundtrack:

Jerusalem

One of Israel's cinema culture top movies.

"The Adventures of James in the Holy Land" ("James' Journey to Jerusalem") is one of the best movies made in Israel I ever saw, if not the greatest. You may see this movie from your point of view, but I'll tell you about the movie in the original point of view, a point of view of someone from Israel. The movie tells the sad and comic story of James, who made the long trip from his tribe in Africa to Israel, to see the holy city of Jerusalem. But when James arrives, he discovers he's a victim of a recent problem nowadays in Israel - they believe he's lying and that he just want to illegally live and work in Israel. So James ends in the jail, until Shimi Shabati, son of Sallah Shabati (Who had, in the 50's, his own movie, and would be a main character in the movie), comes and takes him to a shelter in Tel-Aviv where he'll receive a job. I won't tell anymore, but I'll tell that the movie is a wonderful movie where an African who spend his life in a tribe and believe in a better world, would discover the real world, and see with his bare eyes that it wasn't what he was expecting, while having to decide if he prefers the holy city, or the money.

No doubt about it - a 10.