James's Journey to Jerusalem

The issue of racial prejudice in the Promised Land is explored with admirable restraint in Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's drama, a departure from his previous documentaries. Relying on irony rather than anger, he portrays the Israeli bourgeoisie as casual exploiters of illegal immigrants with a precision that recalls Hal Ashby's Being There. Indeed, James (a devout Christian on pilgrimage from the fictional African village of Entshongweni) has the same naive survival instincts as Peter Sellers's Chance the gardener, and the way in which he ingenuously establishes a business empire while living in servitude is sharply satirical. Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe is splendidly engaging in the title role and is ably supported by Salim Daw as his patronising Jewish boss. A contentious, acute and cleverly controlled modern parable.