Forgotten Film Friday: Inside Man

A review by Azzam Abdur-Rahman It's so serendipitous that I would be running ragged this week and be writing this up literally ON FRIDAY. Especially in a week with the Jussie Smollett news breaking. You see if for whatever reason you are reading this and live outside of the U.S, race relations here are not exactly in a good place. I find it strange that we are living in a time where no one wants to talk about it but it reminded me of what makes Inside Man a surprisingly important film. Heist films are normally face value films that talk about the filmmaking process or are a reflection of human desperation. Inside Man is a film about race relations and race revenge. But you wouldn’t know that at its onset. If you are unaware of Inside Man the film is about a bank robbery and the hostage negotiations that take place during the robbery. It never shows its full hand and if I were to give anymore of a description it would definitely ruin the film. A film that has more twists and turns than a drunken hot wheels set. This film is also not a movie that on that bland description that sounds like it would be directed by Spike Lee. Spike has always talked about race relations and had sometimes been a director for hire in Hollywood but this was strange. It wasn’t like 25th Hour which was an aggressive and angry film. Inside Man started as a Ron Howard film. In concept could have easily just been a Ron Howard film but what we got was a very subtle reflection on race relations in New York and revenge for hate crimes. It’s hard to really explain my point on this without giving away the whole film so I am going to focus on a moment that stood out to me. At a point in the film they are listening to the robbers talking through surveillance. They are speaking some language but is unknown to the officers and their language expert says he thinks it is Eastern European. Denzel’s character comes out says this is New York someone has to know it probably, a hot dog guy. And just like that a construction worker comes out and says that it is Albanian. The other cops immediately respond to the language with fear as if they are a violent people. Racism in this film is never played for a life but as a part of human life. The gentlemen who came me never said anything about Albanians because he knew personally but the other officers did not and were quick to assume the worst. This is a constant theme throughout the film where humanity is stripped away in favor of quick xenophobia. This is why the film is brilliant because the point it ends up making is that we miss the forest for trees. The heist works and it becomes a great game of cat and mouse because Denzel and Clive Owen’s characters are playing a game of cat mouse with the window dressing being the American cultures quick shift to racism when left with very little information. Which leads me to the next thing I need to say. This movie is the best representation of New York I have ever seen in a film. No one has done it better because every voice in this film is a voice you would hear in New York, every skin tone and every response. The film humanizes not only the moderately racist Italian American seeming cop to the Rabbi because everyone who lives in New York shares so much culturally but can still be so far apart from each other in that vast metropolis. Now this wouldn’t be a good film blog if I didn’t shout out the cast which is thick with talent. I mentioned Denzel and Clive Owen but it is rounded out with William DaFoe, Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, but most of all Jodie Foster. I don’t normally end these on actors but Jodie Foster is incredible in this film. I have only seen Jodie Foster play a soft voiced but powerful woman who was often the hero or someone adjacent to the role. We never get to see Jodie Foster play evil. Not only does she pull off evil. She pulls off a pragmatic evil. Someone who sees logic in their actions. Inside Man doesn’t have a tried and true antagonist except if you count Foster who really does seem evil. Owen is calculated but never cruel but Foster speaks softly with viper beneath each breathe and when she shares a scene with Washington she robs him of all of his star power just taking over the scene as if it is only her. Inside Man is important and will largely get forgot because it is a heist movie that isn’t glamorous or fun. It isn’t gritty either. It is a film that is saying so much behind the sheen of a studio picture. I felt a need to point this out because mid-budget pictures are gone and we are only seen directors get say something powerful with the big paint brush so often. We don’t often get films like this and Black Panther but they should be championed because I can’t stand to watch another film that has nothing to say. Inside Man is entertaining while saying so much about race relations and it never beats it over your head. If you haven’t seen it. Peep it now!