Literature and Film--A Critical Essay

Non Whiney Student
English 112-01
Ms. Cooper

24 Apr. 2008

Imitation of Life

Do any of the Star Wars movies, The Matrix trilogy, or Saw I, II, or III contain lessons about life? Do they imitate life? They probably don’t. But, just maybe, maybe they can. Sometimes, like a rose, a movie is just a movie, made to horrify us, make us laugh, or simply open up our minds to previously unimaginable possibilities. However, film, like all art, including literature, can have a deeper purpose: to broaden our understanding of the world around us or to broaden our understanding of a people who are seemingly foreign to us. The previous statements are both the beauty and the danger of film. What we may realize, once we are gifted with exposure, is that people all around the world have souls, spirits, desires, and hopes and dreams. While they may not have voices to express who they truly are, art does it for them. Just as great books give us insight in to ourselves and the human condition, so too can a great film. The danger of film is that it can also be used to stereotype or caricature those whom we don’t know, and thus a false or inaccurate depiction becomes fact. Caricaturing and stereotyping do not occur in Jewish filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz’s film Masso’ot James Be’eretz Hakodesh or James’ Journey to Jerusalem. Through the main character’s journey and exploits, the viewer of James’ Journey to Jerusalem sees the corruption rife in “the promised land” here represented by Jerusalem, but a symbol for all Western, developed nations.

When the film opens, we meet the main character James, who embarks on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and is stopped in Tel Aviv. The religiously devout James, like many immigrants, has high hopes for the almost mythical place of his imaginings. Alexandrowicz asserts that his title character, “represents the development of the Israeli dream, how we came with very idealistic and pure dreams… [and] sort of los[t] [our] way” (Bear). In James’ mind the people in Israel must be imbued with high moral character, goodness, and kindness just by virtue of being Jewish. It is, after all, the “promised land” spoken of in the bible. In Jerusalem, the “chosen people” dwell. However, what he finds in Tel Aviv is not different from the reality of real immigrants-- legal or non status. His initial idealism is dashed. Even though James has a passport and is a legitimate visitor, he is detained in Tel Aviv and denied a visa.

The viewer is given a glimpse of the reality of Africans in Israel. While James is legally permitted to be in the country, he is stereotyped as an illegal because of his color. When it is proven that he is not illegal, it does not matter. Because of the amount of African refugees and illegal immigrants in Israel, government leaders cracked down on those they believed to be breaking the law. According to the Jerusalem Post, “Africans caught trying to enter Israel illegally [would] be deported to Egypt on the spot” (Frenkel). Problems arise, however, when corrupt local officials detain legal visitors and immigrants for their own purposes. Though this issue of local corruption may not be pervasive, the filmmaker acknowledges that “In Israel if you don’t get a visa, you might get deported. And someone might bail you out and give you a permit to work. Legally, the situation is possible. How common it is, I have to say I didn’t check” (Bear). What the film demonstrates, but the filmmaker doesn’t acknowledge, is that the person who bails you out temporarily “owns” you until you can repay him for the bail money he spent. The situation James finds himself in is not unique. Even in the United States and Europe, immigrants find themselves being taken advantage of by greedy businessmen who finance their trips into a country only to have them work off the cost by doing degrading, menial, and illegal work.

We next see the exploitation of newcomers in James’ Journey to Jerusalem and how that exploitation is rampant and imitates reality. When James is unlawfully detained, a business man (Shimi) bails him out—not out of the goodness of his heart, but so that he can add him to the number of illegals he hires out “as construction workers and housecleaners, holding onto their passports and paying them in cash and humiliation” (Scott). James finds himself living in a crowded “prison-like hostel” (Bear) with others who are like him but who have been a part of Israel’s illegal economic system for much longer. His bunk mates have already lost whatever naïveté they once had. These men, James included, represent the thousands of Africans who, as The Chicago Tribune reports, live in “foul-smelling, windowless” spaces either beneath apartments or in attics in bad areas where as many as “100 migrants sleep side by side on wall–to-wall mattresses” (Greenberg). This was not James’ promised land. This was more like Gomorrah (the biblical city destroyed by god for its evil ways), and like the people of Gomorrah, James is turned away from his religion and values.

Then the viewer sees the innocent James that we meet early in the film giving way to an acculturated James. The more time he spends in Israel amongst the Israelis, the more he becomes like them. Of course James’ interactions are only with those who have money and who are exploiting men like him. Theirs are the values he adopts. He loses focus of his purpose, which is his pilgrimage to Jerusalem . He is enthralled with the trappings of Western life and amenities, such as high rise shopping malls, cell phones, and expensive clothes and gadgets. Alexandrowicz posits that “James in the story comes from this place that is the furthest you can go from Western society” (Bear). Alexandrowicz does this so that the viewer can see the drastic affect Israel has on him. Accordingly, James is from a place “where people still live a very different life… a life that is less influenced by these strong forces of materialism that have infested our social behavior to a great extent” (Bear). When he falls in love with the material goods of Israel, he furthers his alienation from who he used to be. Consequently, “James’ material ascent, fueled by the glittering consumer goods displayed in the high-rise shopping mall…is also his spiritual fall. He forgets Jerusalem” (Scott).

The new “Israeli” James becomes an “overseer”—to use the term loosely. He gains the trust of Shimi and becomes the proxy exploiter, the boss. When James becomes a real exploiter and not just a proxy by brokering his own deals and cutting out his boss, his transformation is complete. Does a “James” really exist in Israel? Of course, we only have to look at our own society to see how the values of the dominant culture become the values of its citizens—legal or illegal. While adapting is not bad, remembering who one is is also crucial. The film only gives a small snippet into the life of one African man who is charmed by the wonders of the West; while he is not indicative of all Africans or immigrants in “industrialized” nations, he does exist.

Less we believe that there is no hope in “Gomorrah,” the filmmaker shows James coming almost full circle. He does not arrive at the place where he began because he has gained knowledge along the way. He is no longer the gullible, naïve man who arrived in Tel Aviv with just a small amount of provisions and an abiding faith in the goodness of people. At the end of the film, in a moment of epiphany, he sees who the people around him really are, what he has become, and what he is to the Jewish community. While his earlier view of Israelis as “holy” people was thwarted long ago, he still exalted them, emulated their ways, and became like them. To the larger Jewish community though, no matter how much money he accrued, how well he spoke the language, how many other Africans he had working for him, he was still a “frayer,” a sucker—one to be used and scapegoated if needed. When he sees himself going too far for financial gain, he stops himself. Though he is wise in the ways of the world he inhabits, he rejects it. James shows the audience that while survival might depend upon knowing the tricks and rules of the games, we certainly don’t have to play the game to survive. The moment of his realization can be hoped for in the immigrant population of any nation.

Does Israel harken to other countries to “Give me your tired, your poor…your huddled masses”? It probably doesn’t, but the masses come any way, driven by the promise of a new life, a better life. And what do they get in return for their optimism, their naiveté, their drive? They get the accouterments of success: material goods. What they rarely get is full acceptance. Because of racism, generalizations, stereotypes and the irrational belief that there is only one way to be a “citizen” of a culture, to look like a citizen of a culture, to speak and live like a citizen of a culture immigrants are often forced to give up a large part of who they are. And, even if they are not forced, they do it anyway. They become Israeli, English, French, or American—but the question is “At what price?”

Works Cited

Bear, Liza. “Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s ‘James’ Journey to Jerusalem’; An Israeli Movie with Soul.” IndieWire. 4 Apr. 2004. 26 Apr. 2008. www.indiewire.com/people/people_040304james.html .

Frenkel, Sheera C. “African Refugees to be Deported at Point of Arrival.” The Jerusalem Post 24, Mar. 2008. Lexis Nexus. NVCC Lib., Sterling, VA 24 Apr. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com .

Greenberg, Joel. “Israel Grapples with Migrants from Africa: Olmert Orders Quick Deportations; Rights Groups Argue for Asylum Screenings.” Chicago Tribune 2 Apr. 2008: 10+. ProQuest. NVCC Lib., Sterling, VA. 24 Apr. 2008. .

James’ Journey to Jerusalem. Dir. Ra’anan Alexandrowicz. Perf. Siyabonge Shibe, Salim Daw, Arie Elias. Lama Productions, 2004.

Scott, A.O. “Film Review; For One Earnest Pilgrim, No Land of Milk and Honey.” The New York Times 5 Mar. 2004. 24 Apr. 2008. .