In the storybook beginnings of James' Journey To Jerusalem, an awkward marriage of fairy-tale and social realism, the wide-eyed title hero (Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe) arrives in Tel Aviv on a religious pilgrimage from the fictional African village of Entshongweni. The name "Entshongweni" must mean "born yesterday" in his native Zulu tongue, because he comes to Israel believing that Jerusalem is something like the Emerald City in The Wizard Of Oz, the "land of milk and honey" the Bible describes. To make his bluntly ironic points about Israel's current social and economic realities, first-time feature director Ra'anan Alexandrowicz constructs the entire movie around his own bountiful naïveté, leading the affable young Shibe around like a bleach-coated lamb to the slaughter. Even the score, with its breezy Caribbean rhythms, sticks out like another foot for Shibe to trip over, as his hoped-for paradise continually proves to be scorched earth. Sent on a pilgrimage to Zion in order to return a pastor, the bright and devoutly religious Shibe is immediately detained by the immigration authorities in Tel Aviv. He seems to catch a break when Salim Daw, an upper-middle-class businessman, bails him out of prison, but charity is the furthest thing from Daw's mind. Depositing Shibe in an apartment crammed with fellow migrant workers, Daw forces him to work off his debt in an exploitative labor pool, where most of his wages are skimmed off the top. Determined not to be a "frayer" (someone who lets others get the better of him), Shibe adapts to this shady system all too readily, which leads him to start an entrepreneurial side venture that takes Daw's operation as a business model. With Shibe entering this corrupt world as the blankest of slates, Alexandrowicz tattoos bold-faced messages on his forehead, pitting his innocence against a capitalist system that erodes all spiritual and moral values. In James' Journey, no irony is too square, whether it's Shibe moving from prison into a cellblock apartment, his transformation from exploited to exploiter, or his eventual means of transport to his long-awaited destination. Only his relationship with Daw's feisty grandfather (Arieh Elias), bonded by a mutual dependency that blooms into grudging respect, introduces some gray areas into human interaction. But by then, nothing can stop James' Journey from reaching its destination's inevitable punchline.