Essay Plan

My independent study focuses on the generic codes and conventions of the thriller genre in the movie "Inside Man" (Spike Lee, 2006). Inside Man is a crime thriller, a hybrid of rime and thriller genres. Because of this hybrid genre, there is less emphasis on the psychological effects of conventional thrillers. Inside Man follows the interactions between Washington and Owen's characters, as Washington tries to negoiation the release of the hostages and capture the robbers while Owen is always somehow one step ahead of the police.

Narrative
Owen has a monologue in the beginning of the film stating he can pull of the perfect robbery. This sets the premise for the entire film for if he can actually do it.
In the opening driving seqeunce, the robbers faces are not revealed to the audience and you only see them at the end of the film when they pick up Owen's character. Along with the driving sequence an indian music soundtrack which misleads the audience, this adds some cultural depth to the film along with Spike Lee being a New York resident and so he brings his own local knowledge to the direction of the film.

There are many flash-forwards to interviews with the hostages as though they are the thieves(you only find out why they are at the end of the film). Another flash-forward is seen when the police try to plan a raid on the bank and go through several scenarios, each ending badly as they cannot discern criminial from hostage.

Police
Portrayed at first as being lazy (going to the cafe after reaching the hostage scene). They make a taxi cab joke with a singh that had been arrested by officers which casued his turban to come undone (in reference to New York cabbies being Indian). They stare at a woman's chest during an interrogation saying that she and another woman match the measurements of one the robbers (coincidentally it is her) but she gets away. The scene is cuts from the two officers to her and back which gets the scene a more humour edge.

Characters
The criminals are not portrayed as conventional ones, they instigate a hostage situation but only imitate killing hostages and only make the hostages think they are brutalising someone so that they obey them. It also become apparent that the weapons the robbers have are fake, revealing they robbed a bank with toy guns and used fake blood to intimidate hostages.
In comparison a film such as 44 Minutes has the robber engaging in a huge shootout with the police to escape them. The robbers in Inside Man use techniques such as bugging items (which the police did also), but the robbers were expecting it and laid out a red herring for them while the robbers were hearing everything the police were saying which gave them enough time to escape and for Owen's character to hide.

Race
- Jewish: the bank robberies were revealed to all be Jewish, including the Rabbi that was pushed to the ground in the beginning. They had gotten through the police interrogation (not including Owen as he was hiding til a week after the robbery). It is revealed that the owned of the bank, gave up a French Jew to the Nazis in exchange for a large sum of money which he used to open a bank which was then subsequently targetted by the robbers due to his connection with the Nazis (it could be inferred that the robbers have some connection to the family however it is not confirmed).