Who was the Inside Man and how did he (they) know about the safe deposit box?

Rating: 5/10 (11 April 2006)

**all spoilers -- do not read further if you haven't seen the movie**** ******* I found the Inside Man to be one of those films that is fun in the watching, but that tolerates no level of analysis over coffee. By design, the film has no dramatic tension. We know in the first 10 seconds that the bad guy gets away with it. We are further informed through "flash forwards," that all hostages survive the bank robbery. There are two prime issues that no one has addressed for me (not even Spike Lee and Mr. Gewirtz his screenwriter). Specifically: (a) Who was the Inside Man? Was it Case (the Christopher Plummer character)? The rabbi? The employee who lied about his cell phone and was severely beaten? The kid who would not wear his hood? Heck, was it the 8-year-old with the video game; (b) How did Dalton(Clive Owens' character) select box 392? Did Case hire Dalton? As the sole purpose of the heist was to get the content of that box, was it dumb luck or was Dalton clued in? If Case is in the Inside Man, why doesn't he get his own incriminating evidence out of the box (shouldn't he have burned it a long time ago?). Any and all help clarifying these two points would be appreciated.